Fleet Foxes

iTunes Review

Raised on some of the best folk-pop of the ‘60s and ‘70s, Robin Pecknold and band mates show not only an understanding but a deep respect for the musical roots that came before them. Borrowing reverb and multi-layering tricks (not to mention the quiet drama of an unexpected melody) from artists like the Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel and the Zombies, Fleet Foxes feel a bit like a ray of winter sun falling on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon. You want to curl up in it for a while, and shut everything else out. “White Winter Hymnal” is lush and uplifting, with what sounds like a booming typani reverberating in and out of simple acoustic guitars and glistening tambourines, delivering two and a half minutes of sonic salvation. Many Fleet Foxes songs have a rather hymnal air, in fact — a spiritual richness that feels organic and simple, rooted more in the pleasures and mysteries of the natural world than the supernatural one. Poems of love, death, and family unfold in “quivering” forests, frozen rivers, and mountain valleys. Revealing itself slowly like the sky’s colors at dawn, “Sun it Rises” is at first mournful and twangy, but turns majestic and celebratory. Fans of Bon Iver, the Shins or Grizzly Bear will be delighted to find Fleet Foxes.