Fleet Foxes

Helplessness Blues

(Sub Pop)

Record Review by Kevan Peterson

On their second studio album, Fleet Foxes do not seem in any rush to get through the music.  Expanding upon their lackadaisical instrumentation and smart lyrics that made them a MySpace sensation, back when MySpace had sensations, Helplessness Blues doesn’t sound as depressing as the name would imply.  Of course these guys aren’t a barrel of laughs either.  Most songs are low amounts of fuel burning on an idle engine, but it works. 

The title track, the very definition of a slow burn, evokes a kind of gospel-like arrangement in its opening lyrics.  The tune was first given away online for free, fitting for a band who has referenced illegal file sharing as one of the pluses of their career.  A few highlights on the album include opening track “Montezuma,” whose refrain “oh, man what I used to be,” rings only slightly false, as the listener is anticipating more what this band is to become than what is has been. 

“Bedouin Dress,” which sports a fiddle mid-tune, is a catchy song, only slightly outdone a few tracks later by “Battery Kinzie.”  The brief instrumentation of “The Cascades” plays like an old western a little more the halfway through, while closing tune “Grown Ocean” creates a virtual ocean of sound, trumpeting through to the end.