Home > Detroit Music > CD Review > Fleet Foxes, 'Fleet Foxes'

Backstory: Fleet Foxes formed a few years ago, inspired by the shared love of parental record collections from the ‘60s. They quickly caught the attention of the local Seattle press, signed to Sub Pop, and released an accomplished EP earlier this year (“Sun Giant”) that thrust them into the indie spotlight. Lead singer Robin Pecknold is 22 and paid for the recording of the band’s full-length debut on his credit card.

Why you should care: Fleet Foxes offer common ground for fans of reverb rockers like My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses and past pop harmony masters like the Beach Boys and Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Verdict: A few songs are merely pretty, but the best stretches on “Fleet Foxes” are dramatic, immediate and as thrilling as anything you’re apt to hear this year. The Foxes are far from alone in revisiting the heights of ‘60s harmonies, but they’re certainly among the most promising purveyors—at least in part because Pecknold seems to have the ghosts of yesteryear in his blood. Fleet Foxes may well become very fashionable, but it never sounds like they’re chasing fashion.
 
X-Factor: Don’t judge a book by its cover—or a band by its beards. The shaggy-haired Pecknold recently took pains to point out that he’s no hippie, saying that the good vibes of the ‘60s—which so inspire Fleet Foxes—were ruined as free-lovin’ hippies sold out in the ‘70s, corrupted by “cocaine and Charles Manson.”

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