Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes

I held off for a few months before buying this... I dunno, maybe just a knee-jerk reaction to the hype or something. But I finally relented, and, sure enough, the damn thing's pretty good. As I've been in something of a retro/Brian Wilson kinda kick lately, this fit in pretty well with my mindset, though I found myself enjoying it on its own merits. For a debut album (not counting the brief EP that preceded it by a few months), it's surprisingly mature and gutsy, willing to meander and build on you, though there are hooks to be found as well. Yes, it's chock full of spine-tingling harmonies, equal parts Beach Boys and CSN, and does mine that familiar early 70s Brian Wilson eccentric vibe. But there's also a heavy dose of mellow, pastoral folkie Americana, making it equally reminiscent of, say, the Kingsbury Manx and early My Morning Jacket. (Why this got the big-time indie rock press hype but the Kingsbury Manx have not I just can't figure out.) Anyway, sounds particularly swell with headphones, though some of the more melodic, denser tracks fill a room pretty well over big-ass speakers, too. Check it out.

Here's the obligatory video:


And, hey, if I'm gonna keep namedropping the (fabulous) Kingsbury Manx, here's a bit of some random dude's home movies set to a KM tune: