Music : Fleet Foxes

Rating: - A bit of balance please
Whatever the musical qualities of Fleet Foxes they do not merit the 1 star given by the reviewer below. This is a superb first album which gets better with each listen. Who the hell listens to Crosby, Stills & Nash these days??

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Rating: - Well three stars really but ...
Somebody needs to balance the hyperbole surrounding this band. This is not a terrible album, in fact it's quite good but - and get this people - it's not great, or original, or anything which in six months time will be regarded as special. Reviews mention the Beach Boys, Crosby Stills and Nash, southern US devotional music etc and it's all there, just not as impressive. More than anything, they sound like an unplugged version of My Morning Jacket except the singer isn't as good as Jim James. Nice record, pick it up in a few weeks when it's cheaper.

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Rating: - Dig those harmonies!
For a debut album, this is truly stunning work. If you want an essentially meaningless comparison, look no further than Pet Sounds era Beach Boys. There are some melodies on this CD that will leave you speachless, wondering how anyone could come up with something so beautiful in this cynical age. Also check out their accompanying EP, Sun Giant (the first half of Mykonos brought tears to my eyes!) Simply wonderful and probably the album of 2008.

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Rating: - Astonishingly assured debut
Nothing to add that others haven't said - a breathtakingly beautiful record that totally captures their awesome live show. How can one so young write such mature, wordly songs? It's like having sunshine beamed straight into your room. Heavenly.

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Rating: - Mormon tabernacle pop music
Despite the glowing reviews on Amazon and their current status as music media cult heroes. When I hear the charmingly named 'Fleet Foxes' I get a mental picture of a huge marble Mormon church in Salt Lake City with a happy clappy ensemble of slick haired, sharp shiny suited young Christians, making God music! The fact that the hairy, bearded Fleet Foxes look nothing like that only adds to the striking paradox.
Much has been made of the Beach Boy sounds and harmonies with splashes of Neil Young, C & W and 60's pop. Trouble is.... tacking different genres together and calling it 'a new sound' is a perversion of the reality and this for me is the problem I have with the band's music. It doesn't gell. It is just a strangely unpalatable hotch potch of sounds.
OK...It sort of works in that the band throw themselves into the experiment with such gusto that anyone unfamilar with old fashioned pop music might be forgiven for finding it a new experience. However..I can't get away from that saccharine quality. The just too sweet harmonies,the OTT elaborate orchestration...the lightweight quality the whole enterprise exudes.
The Fleet foxes are a Seattle band like Nirvana. To use a TV analogy. If Nirvana where an edgy 'X Files' then the Fleet Foxes are 'Friends'.
It's just too sugar coated and old fashioned for my tastes....sorry.