Music Under Fire

For fans of Sea Wolf and other amplified folk rockers, we think Fleet Foxes will fit your fancy. (These band names somehow always seem to go back to some of my favorite childhood animals) But its not just the name that caught my attention, I'm prone to fall into whichever bands Subpop takes under their wing, but more so these indie bands that keep oozing out of Seattle. Lucky for us, the band's latest, Sun Giant EP was released this week, and since EPs are so popular these days, our iPods were cleared for yet another 5-song adventure.

Fleet Foxes have an undoubtedly laid back approach to their music, and although their vocals will most likely be compared to Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses) or Jim James (My Morning Jacket), the band hardly captures the fullness of what we know as Southern rock. There is no rock comparisons to make, in fact, Fleet Foxes may only sound Southern in song style, yet lack and kick to shift them from first to second gear (that we know of so far). The five-man band afterall, hail from the North, where rain trickles and passionate songwriting ebbs and flows with each passing cloud.

When it all comes down to it, Fleet Foxes list their influences as Judee Sill, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Fairport Convention and are not considered Southern like the comparisons some may make. Their ingenuity is this subtle mix of these old classics and what they grew up on with a fusion of their own tastes:

“We grew up listening to the music of our parents,” Robin notes, “The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, The Zombies, Joni Mitchell, Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, Love, Marvin Gaye, Bach, Crosby Stills & Nash, Bob Dylan, Buffalo Springfield, and every other perennial ‘60s band you’d expect to find in the record collections of baby boomers.” (One of us is named after a Steely Dan record, for Christ’s sake…)