Capsule Reviews: Islands & Fleet Foxes
At first, it'd be easy to mistake Fleet Foxes for old-school My Morning Jacket, or even present-day commercial heroes Band of Horses. After all, they've got that Americana thing going, it seems at times that they're drowning in reverb, you'd assume everyone's got long hair, et cetera. But if their excellent debut EP wasn't enough to make it clear that this Washington quintet is a much different beast—and a gorgeous one at that—their first full-length should do the trick.
While Fleet Foxes are loathe to consider themselves particularly talented, often citing their own mistakes and shortcomings in songwriting and performance, they do with vocal harmony what many all-male bands probably wish were possible: they make it sound pretty, rather than making it sound like a bunch of dudes trying to make mouth-noises in unison. Tracks such as "White Winter Hymnal" and "Your Protector" could stand up against anything released this year in terms of sheer loveliness; these songs seem almost naked despite a variety of instrumentation, a product of their being unadorned by all the flash and sparkle that marks most contemporary music. And the Foxes admit as much, saying that they keep their influences in the past, and touchstones such as Fleetwood Mac aren't hard to find here. But if such respect for a simpler time in song-making makes them iconoclasts in a current musical climate built more around intellectual pursuits or obscurity than pure listenability, then so be it—Fleet Foxes are more than welcome to stick around for a while.
Check after the jump for videos of "White Winter Hymnal," by Fleet Foxes, and a clip of "Creeper," by Islands.
There are two ways—one good, one not so good—that you can go with the new Islands album. On the good side is that Islands have managed to come up with an album that is unexpectedly simple, yet unique enough to keep attention. On the not so good side is that, after the unmitigated enjoyability of 2006's Return to the Sea, as well as lead singer Nick Thorburn's (formerly going by the pseudonymic surname Diamonds) excellent work with Unicorns, this album is shockingly generic and uninspired. Yes, there are periodic flashes of brilliance to be found, such as the haunting pop of "Creeper," but the most jarring aspect of Arm's Way is what seems to be a surprising laziness in regard to songwriting, as the choruses are piled on more thickly than on previous Thorburn albums, and instances of highlight lines and verses are few and far between.
This isn't to say that the album isn't catchy, but it is to say that it's an album probably best enjoyed by people who weren't already fans of the band. When all's said and done, the lack of creative gusto behind Arm's Way can be said, in a sense, to lend credence to the idea that Thorburn—a well-renowned hater of Vampire Weekend and other things that apparently stole his ideas, or aren't as brilliant as he is—has gotten a bit big for his britches.
Fleet Foxes [MySpace]
Islands [MySpace] [Official]
