For the previous couple of excursions, Fleet Foxes have closed their stay units with “Helplessness Blues” – a tune about Robin Pecknold’s struggles to beat existential worries about his place within the trendy world. “What’s my identify? What’s my station?” he sings. “Oh, simply inform me what I ought to do”. Within the 11 years for the reason that tune was first launched, you would argue that the situations that first impressed Pecknold to write down “Helplessness Blues” have change into extra pronounced; however the man singing the tune in 2022 is evidently in a special place solely. Certainly, watching Pecknold bobbing and bouncing across the stage tonight with infectious, Tiggerish enthusiasm, you would be forgiven for pondering that the knotty soul-searching of Helplessness Blues and Crack-Up, its successor, had occurred to another person.
It transpires that Shore – the band’s most up-to-date studio album – was a turning level for Pecknold. Having lastly labored by his anxieties, the file was awash with positivity, gratitude and optimism. Even throughout lockdown and surrounded by the demise of his musician heroes, Pecknold refused to show inward and as a substitute threw himself wide-open. Within the midst of all this, the previous stereotype of Fleet Foxes as bucolic fabulists resurfaced on Shore – right here was an album that celebrated the restorative energy of the seasons – “one heat day is all I actually need” – as if the weather had been maybe sufficient to maintain his earlier unease at bay. Following Pecknold’s coming of age by his music – from the guileless openness of their debut, by the insecurities of Helplessness Blues and the flux of Crack-Up – Shore was as a lot about Pecknold recalibrating what Fleet Foxes meant to him because it was about us, in flip, recalibrating our relationship with Fleet Foxes.
In a manner, all these Robin Pecknolds are current tonight. Bodily, wearing a camouflage jacket and beanie hat, he doesn’t look a lot totally different from the primary time Fleet Foxes visited the UK in 2008 (his hair is shorter and the beanie is smaller, although). In the meantime, because the band revisit the rhapsodic harmonies of “Ragged Wooden” and “White Winter Hymnal” from the debut, channel the epic great thing about “The Shrine/An Argument” from Helplessness Blues or map out the flowery sonic terrain of “Third Of Could/Ōdaigahara” from Crack-Up, the arc of his inventive progress is clearly laid out. It happens to me, half manner by a free squall of horns on “Third Of Could/Ōdaigahara”, that irrespective of how difficult or involving Pecknold’s songs can sometimes be, the elemental charms of his band shine by.
“Third Of Could/Ōdaigahara” is a mid-point within the set, really, so I’m getting a bit forward of myself. They’d opened with the primary three songs from Shore – “Wading In Waist-high Water” (with Uwade Akhere, their tour assist, on vocals), “Sunblind” and “Can I Consider In You”. Contemplating Pecknold largely recorded Shore himself, this tour is the primary time we’ve heard the total band preparations, which naturally sound fuller. The presence of Andy Clausen, Chloe Rowlands and Willem de Koch from brass ensemble the Westerlies additional bolsters the sound – however by no means to the purpose the place they overwhelm the songs. For a band that expressly strives to current songs of ravishing prettiness, they’re additionally commendably sturdy. They circle again to their debut for a brace of songs earlier than stretching out for the longer, extra expansive songs. Flanked by his right-hand man, Skyler Skjelset, Pecknold leads the band by the tune’s winding contours and digressive segments, reinforcing the purpose that – nevertheless a lot Pecknold is driving this – Fleet Foxes are a communal endeavour. By the way, props to Morgan Henderson – clearly on the receiving finish of Pecknold’s formidable musical imaginative and prescient – who’s tasked with taking part in flute, stand-up bass, tambourine, bass and saxophone at numerous factors throughout tonight’s set. In the meantime, wearing slim-fitting black shirt and trousers, Skjelset acts as each guitarist and bandleader; one minute, coaxing shiny, clear traces from his guitar and the following communing with the Westerlies on the harmonies for “White Winter Hymnal”. There are some effective harmonies, too, from bassist Christian Wargo.
“… Hymnal” acts as a sort of buffer for the remainder of the primary set. The second half is rangier one way or the other, that includes a model of “Phoenix” – from Huge Purple Machine’s How Lengthy Do You Assume It’s Gonna Final? album – and an acoustic part from Pecknold which features a cowl of Judee Sill’s “The Kiss”. Pushed by Casey Westcott’s gently swung keys and Chris Icasiano’s fluid drumming, “Phoenix” consciously recollects the soulful vitality of The Band – “How do you bear the total weight?” sings Pecknold, as for those who want additional clues as to what’s afoot right here. The Huge Purple Machine collaboration, after all, lastly brings Pecknold into direct contact with The Nationwide’s Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon – contemporaries among the many early 00s collegiate indie rock explosion. Greater than most, Pecknold and Vernon’s trajectories, in the meantime, have been broadly comparable: from hirsute backwoods starting by their struggles with success and complicated sonic experiments. Whereas “Phoenix” is without doubt one of the stand out tracks on How Lengthy Do You Assume It’s Gonna Final?, I can’t assist however marvel how a extra complete nation soul Fleet Foxes file would sound.
The remainder of the set swells and eddies in the direction of Helplessness Blues’ nearer, “Grown Ocean”, a thrumming, stunning tune the place Pecknold – reborn as a “wide-eyed leaver, at all times going” – lastly finds his peace. Pecknold returns for a sun-lit “Montezuma” earlier than Uwade joins them for a heat, communal singalong by “For A Week Or Two” and “Going-to-the-Solar Street” and, lastly, “Helplessness Blues” itself. In a manner, it seems like we’re on the finish of a protracted Section One for Fleet Foxes – the place the enterprise begun on their debut album has reached some sort of pure decision on Shore, with their tide-like ruminations on ageing, loss and unsure instances. The place subsequent..?
Observe me on Twitter @MichaelBonner
Fleet Foxes performed:
Wading in Waist-high Water
Sunblind
Can I Consider You
Ragged Wooden
Your Protector
He Doesn’t Know Why
Featherweight
Third Of Could/ Ōdaigahara
White Winter Hymnal
Phoenix
Maercstapa
Mykonos
Blue Noticed Tail
The Kiss
A Lengthy Means Previous The Previous
Drops In The River
Blue Ridge Mountains
Grown Ocean
Encore:
Monetezuma
The Shrine/An Argument
For A Week Or Two
Going-to-the-Solar Street
Helplessness Blues
