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Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

Reviewed by Nick Mack

With their first full-length album, Fleet Foxes hooked many with an otherworldly sound that held enough intrigue and an element of mass-appeal to keep the hooked intrigued.  They created their own niche that crossed the borders of a few genres.  They exhibited strength and an ability to produce songs that reeled fans in and ensured that people from all walks would gladly trek down the mysterious yet inviting paths forged by their songs.  With their second album, Helplessness Blues, they have expanded the territories through which they will take us if we are willing.

A few months ago, Fleet Foxes released the song “Helplessness Blues” on their website.  This gave a taste of their current direction and an idea of where their new album was likely to take the scores of fans that found themselves with fresh hooks attached.

It sounds like Fleet Foxes see the popularity of their first album and the Sun Giant EP as a license to move away from releasing songs that stand out as catchy hit singles.  It has to be said that the Fleet Foxes brand of catchiness does not carry with it the irksome traits of another catchy pop song; they gracefully step beyond that.  Their new album is more than a simple collection of hits.  It is a rushing stream of mystical and diverse folk songs, that has “Montezuma” – a song that uses clever layers of vocals to ignite the album – at it’s source.  There are seamless segues between the instrumental wanderings of “The Cascades”, into two-part, multi-faceted epics like “The Shrine/An Argument”.  The catchier “Helplessness Blues” and “Lorelai” hold hands comfortably with the timid “Blue Spotted Trail”, many parts working together and forming a beautiful body.

So far, I’ve used lame fishing metaphors and imagery that makes it seem as though I want to take Homelessness Blues on a date.  Perhaps I would, if that were appropriate but perhaps this is just the kind of dumb I’ve been struck yet again by what Fleet Foxes do?  Let’s go with that, shall we?  I would not be surprised if this less catchy new album by Fleet Foxes turns some people off.  They have gone in a direction that swerves away from hit production and they’re set to make weather-beaten, musical adventurers of us all.

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1.  Full Name and affiliated groups

Nicholas Iain Mack.  I do not know what “affiliated groups” means, sorry.

2. Where are you from and based in now?

I am from Southampton, which is deep down in the dirty south(ern part of England.)  My home town is actually a suburb of Southampton, next to a forest where wild ponies roam free.  Right now I live in London, where wild people roam free.

3. Favorite food, and the last meal you just had

God, I love food.  I love steak and chicken.  I love curry.  I don’t think I’m using “love” too liberally here.  I’d put a dress on food and jolly well marry it, we’d be really happy together.

The last thing I ate was a sandwich, would you call that a meal?

4. Favorite band, musician and last album you listened to

Fugazi and Bob Dylan are great.  I also really like metal and the Wu-Tang Clan.  I’m going to see Battles next month, that should be great but now I’m just boasting, sorry!  The last album I listened to was Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens.

5. Favorite artist, author, and last book or movie you read or saw

I like Mark Gonzales’ art.  I’m a fan of those huge, realistic looking paintings that you’d find in the National Portrait Gallery.  I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like when I see it.  I’ve met some artists and illustrators lately and they do good things too!  (Have a look at Zoe Barker , Ben Jamie and Derek Curry).

Lord of the Rings and 100 Years of Solitude are two books that have blown my head off.  The last movie I watched was Buried, which was really depressing and claustrophobic.

6. What do you do for a living and LIVE to DO?

Right now, I’m a full time journalism student.  I live to do right by God and my family and friends and the world around me.

7. How did you get into doing what you love to do?

I couldn’t sing or dance or paint or anything like that so I started to take pictures and make videos just so I had a way of releasing whatever creativity I had stuck inside me.  Later on I found out that writing is also a good way of doing this.  It’s excellent fun.

8. What is the meaning of life?

It’s something that I find really hard to put into words.  I think it has everything to do with the presence God has in the world and in my life.  Following Him leads me to think about how I interact with others and also to think about the opportunities life offers.  I do not do well at this quite a bit of the time, but thankfully God seems to be there to deal with that too.  He’s helpful like that.

9. What is a social issue that you have a huge concern about?

I’m really concerned that there are people out there who think it’s okay to ship other people around the world as if they’re just another product to be bought and sold.  People are worth so much more than that.  It’s really cool to hear about the work being done by Rapha House.  I’ve done a fair amount of work with young people and I’m a fan of groups and causes that do whatever they can to provide guidance and support to those that need it as they’re growing up.

10. Favorite Hello Destroyers shirt so far

I really like the one that Biaka is going to send me in the post any day now…

Folkzilla is a fun one.

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Do a lot of musicians these days sit in the recording studio and say “Right, we are going to record this album in such a way that it will take several listens before the majority of our fans like it”?  Is there a formula that they follow to ensure that this is the outcome?  If you take the fact that everyone likes all your other albums, and add it to the talent you (may or may not) have, then subtract some of the punch that made you what you are, then add a certain quality that will hopefully grow on whoever listens, and finally multiply the sum of all of this by the scope and nature of your marketing campaign, will this result in eventual success?  More importantly, is it worth doing all this?  Especially when it didn’t seem this difficult the first time around.

My poor understanding of mathematical equations aside, it sometimes takes a while to appreciate something, and this appreciation often depends on ever-changing moods.  Right now, for instance, it looks like I’m in the mood to listen to Radiohead’s new album and I wasn’t a couple of weeks ago when it was released.  The simplicity of liking something at first encounter is nothing short of delightful.  Being able to say “hell yeah!” straight away instead of “hmmm…well, I wonder if this will be good on the 7th go ’round?” is just easier.  Life is too short to work too hard at liking something.

It’s certainly too short to figure out Thom Yorke’s latest dance moves.  Just watch this video and they will be explained.

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1. Full Name and affiliated groups

Hello. My name is Kevin T. Cott. I have no affiliated groups yet…Hello Destroyers hasn’t made me an offer.*

*“WELCOME KEVIN!”-HD3

2. Where are you from and based in now?

I am from Derby, KS originally. It’s a suburb of Wichita in Southeast, KS. Headed off to college in Joplin, MO in 2003, and now I reside in Springfield, MO; also known as the “Queen City”!

3. Favorite food, and the last meal you just had

My favorite food would easily be Fried Chicken from the historic Brookville Hotel in Abilene, KS, with a side of their homemade cole slaw, and creamed corn. The last meal I had was at home, and they it was tacos!

4. Favorite band, musician and last album you listened to

This is a tough one so I’ll narrow it down to my all-tme top favs:
Wilco, Dylan, Springsteen, The Avett Brothers, James Taylor, Josh Ritter, Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Arcade Fire.
The last album I listened to was Eine Blume’s “Yet There is hope, Mrs. Ahlgren”

5. Favorite artist, author, and last book or movie you read or saw

I’m a huge movie buff so here are some of my favorite filmmakers: Stanley Kubrick, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, P.T. Anderson, and Buster Keaton.
As a song-writer, I’m influenced by words so literature as always played a huge part in my life. Some of my favorite writers are Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Dostoevsky, and Cormac McCarthy . I love writers who let bad things happen to their characters. Prose, especially the kind as epic as McCarthy’s help me think in images as a songwriter. The last book I read was The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow. The last film I saw was Another Yea, from the great English director Mike Leigh.

Courtesy of Courtney Cott

6. What do you do for a living and LIVE to DO?

I work mainly to support the things I’m really interested in. I write a newspaper column for a living, sell stuff on ebay, make music; basically whatever helps pay the bills. I suppose I live to ask questions. It’s a part of what fuels my creativity, and spurs me on to learn and grow as much as I can. I suppose that’s why I’m always reading, watching, writing, trying to think about the bigger questions in life. Socrates said “the unexamined life is not worth living”, and that has always been a driving force behind my art.

7. How did you get into doing what you love to do? (Influences, accidentally stumbled upon it)

I began playing guitar when I was about 10 years old Shortly after that I had an experience that, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, was nothing short of an epiphany. I was a kid at my grandmother’s house and we were spinning some of my parents’ old records. My mom had put on James Taylor’s ‘Sweet Baby James’. I remember hearing it for the first time and knowing that he was doing something extraordinarily special with words and melodies. I didn’t understand it completely, but whatever it was I knew I wanted to be a part of it. My life was never the same.

Courtesy of Drew Kimble (12Eight-One Photography & Hello Destroyers)

8. What is the meaning of life?

Wow..no easy questions in this interview at all. Albert Einstein said that man experiences his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest. Our task as humans is to free ourselves from what he calls this delusion of consciousness, and widen our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. It’s a mouthful, but well said, and worth thinking about.

9. What is a social issue that you have a huge concern about?

Unfortunately, the term “human trafficking” is such a buzz-word right now. Something that is grossly overlooked though is that this type of modern-day slavery exists throughout the world. Organizations like my friends at Unearthedpictures.com are doing their help to put an end to horrors like this, and also show how man’s everyday choices can unknowingly contribute to a culture that breeds this type of slavery. Mainly a culture that is obsessed and over-saturated with sex.

10. Favorite Hello Destroyers shirt so far

My favorite HD shirt is the “Paint to Spill” one. Simple. Sleek. Love it. A close second for me would be the Folkzilla shirt. Man whoever designed those definitely knew what he was doing…..

Courtesy of Courtney Cott.

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