FLEET FOXES
HOXTON BAR & GRILL, HOXTON SQUARE
MAY 29, 2008
WORDS: AMY KNIGHT
"There's nothing cool about a four-part harmony." Those were the smiling words that made a lasting impression on me after speaking to Fleet Foxes long-maned drummer, Joshua Tillman. The gig that preceded our conversation had been scintillating from beginning to end, and I do not use that adjective casually. As the opener began, what was previously a loquacious and lively audience, was struck into a possessing silence, as though hypnotised. The loud, strong, naked voices of the band rang out with skin-tingling assertion, raw, truthful and unaffected. No instruments accompanied their apostolic singing, nor were they needed. Their voices alone evoked a tranquil summer's day in the woods of King Arthur's time, melodically medieval and untainted by mechanical sound. Slowly, calmly, after this a capella introduction the heavy beat of drums stormed behind the vocals.
Their merging of folk pop and slow, Baroque chanting had resonances of Simon and Garfunkel, and, to further the medieval atmosphere, Skye Skjelset later produced a beautiful mandolin, while Casey Wescott and Joshua shook maracas and tambourines, respectively. There was something ecclesiastical about the whole performance; their presence on stage, the warmth of their voices, unassuming but all encompassing. Oliver James, sung solely by guitarist Robin Pecknold, was welcomed with the gentle encouragement of the audience, to whom this song was already familiar. Indeed, this quiet, unintrusive band, who only this month released their debut album, have quite unintentionally acquired a devoted following. The band spoke to me with genuine incredulity after the set had finished, unsure of how to react to their immediate popularity. They weren't expecting a London audience to be so open, so enthusiastic, preparing instead for a mass of ennui-consumed, unimpressed cool kids. But it seems the Seattle-based Fleet Foxes have come at exactly the right time; a time when the fervour of new rave is long dead and the influence of post-punk is not enough.
This band represent the very thing that we are all in need of; honest, unpretentious, good-natured music, with beauty in its purity. So if there's nothing cool about a four-part harmony, then cool is finally being made redundant, and four-part harmonies are the way forward. May Fleet Foxes lead the way.