Artist: Fleet Foxes Album: Helplessness Blues

Year: 2011
Duration: 50:10

Indulging in Helplessness Blues: A Critic Review of Fleet Foxes' Album and Their Musical Odyssey

With its rich vocal harmonies, beautifully crafted acoustic guitars, and poetic lyrics, Fleet Foxes' second album, Helplessness Blues, remains one of their most beloved works globally and transformed their career trajectory. Today, we will take a closer look at the musical odyssey of this Seattle-based band, reflecting on the album's genre, the most innovative parts, the best songs, and where it fell short.

Fleet Foxes is an indie folk band founded in 2008 in Seattle, Washington, by Robin Pecknold, Skyler Skjelset, Casey Wescott, Christian Wargo, and Josh Tillman. Their self-titled debut album won critical acclaim worldwide, garnering comparisons to classic folk artists like Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Helplessness Blues, released in 2011, features 12 songs that took the band's music to new heights, incorporating elements from diverse styles, from choral music to classic rock. The album's genre is challenging to pinpoint since it blends old music styles with modern sounds, with some calling it folk-rock, indie folk, or hybrid-folk.

One of the most innovative parts of the album is its intricate vocal harmonies. Each member of Fleet Foxes contributed their unique voices to create a compelling sound that meshed together smoothly and added depth to the record. Another standout feature is the acoustic guitar work, with many intricate fingerpicking patterns and chord changes adding a distinctive sound throughout the album.

The album's best songs are many, but a few stand out, such as Helplessness Blues, the title track, which emphasizes Robin Pecknold's introspective and poetic lyrics and his unique storytelling. Grown Ocean showcases the uplifting and enchanting qualities of the album, with its nonsensical lyrics and soaring melodies. The album's lead single, Battery Kinzie, highlight's Fleet Foxes' ability to produce catchy, upbeat folk tracks while also integrating unexpected musical elements to stimulate the listener's interest.

Nevertheless, although the album delivers lyrics with deep introspection and intensity and boasts a superb sound, it does suffer from a lack of distinguishable arrangement and sounds, making it feel an overabundance of its own sound. It lacks balance in structure, creating a repetitive tone that makes the album sound linear.

Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues remains a beautifully crafted album with great production and thought-provoking lyrics that never lose their depth and texture, relying not only on the band's indie-folk background but taking their music to a new level with eclectic sounds and creative arrangements that make the record an unforgettable listening experience. However, while it achieved many great feats, the album does fall short, lacking variety and compelling structure that diminishes the listener's continued engagement. All in all, Helplessness Blues remains an iconic album that represents the sound and ethos of Fleet Foxes.