ARTIST:

FLEET FOXES

ALBUM:

HELPLESSNESS BLUES

KEY TRACKS:

SIM SALA BIM

MONTEZUMA

THE SHRINE/AN ARUGMENT

HELPLESSNESS BLUES

LORELAI

GROWN OCEAN

What makes me love you, despite the reservations?

The New Year brings with it many new things: the possibility of change, starting fresh, and bettering your life.  It's also a time to look back and think on what you did --or didn't-- accomplish.  Many of you that knew me in 2010 know that I struggled with many many things.  I was in a dead-end job that was causing me to be both remarkably unhappy and unable to be financially independent.  I felt lost and was sick of it. 

So what did I do?  I vowed to make 2011 the best year ever.  

And so I did.  For me, 2011 brought about significant changes in my life.  I ran a marathon, moved out, got a new job, and have been fortunate enough to befriend the loveliest, kindest, and selfless people I have ever met.  I've grown.  My life has changed in every possible way and I'm so grateful for it because it's a change that I so dearly hoped for and needed so badly.       

Now I can look back at this year and be satisfied with what has changed and know that it is because of my own choices that I've come this far.  But with great happiness also comes a great struggle sooner or later.  I would be lying if I said that this was an easy road to travel.  Difficult and deep (often anxious) soul searching paved the way to where I am now.  You cannot know how precious happiness is until you lose it.  Eventually it does come back to you...but how long you wait for it is up to you.  That's where this particular group of artists come in.   

When I sat down to write this important review, my favorite album of 2011, I didn't have to think long.  Much like this year for me, Fleet Foxes' sophomore release Helplessness Blues was laden with struggle to create.  I remember reading an article in SPIN magazine earlier this year where frontman Robin Pecknold opened up the deep emotional struggle it took to producing this album.

Mid-breakup, isolated, and immensely pressured to record a successful sophomore release, Pecknold's life was completely consumed by this album.  Self doubt plagued him, scrapping entire songs before anyone could hear them.  He also admittedly lives with social anxiety which further contributes to his difficulty sharing his music with the public, much less his bandmates.  However, despite all the evident "helplessness" Fleet Foxes endured, have created something extraordinary and beautiful in Helplessness Blues.

The familiar lush chorales are still present, though in somewhat shorter stock.  But in losing some harmonies, the listener gains the extraordinary beauty of Robin Pecknold's voice rising solo above the plucking guitar strings.  Helplessness Blues starts sweetly yet with thoughtful lyrics that relate to what it means to grow up in Montezuma:

"So now I am older, 

Than my mother and father, 
When they had their daughter, 
Now what does that say about me?"

As we progress in life, everyone undoubtedly wonders where they will be in x amount of years.  Will I be in the same city?  Will I have children?  Will I have the same job?  Who will be in my life?  What does our path exactly say about us?  And in those feelings we sometimes question ourselves and out authenticity as addressed in the title track:        

"I was raised up believing I was somehow unique

like a snowflake among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see.

And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be 

A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me. 

But I don't, I don't know what that will be

I'll get back to you someday soon you will see."

Everyone has these thoughts now and then.  You're not sure where to go and if you're ambitious enough to take those timid steps you do experience some level of uncertainty.  The struggle of finding your way and growing up, whether it's finding a job, finding happiness, or in this case writing album can leave you feeling helpless and small sometimes.  But sometimes it's the hope of "get[ing] back...someday" that keeps you going.  

But as you endure hardship, happiness is always not too far behind.  Thus the album closes on a happier note with the hopeful musings of  Grown Ocean:

"I know someday the smoke will all burn off

All these voices I'll someday have turned off

I will see you one day when I have woken

I'll be so happy just to have spoken

I'll have so much to tell you about it"

Overall it's hard to pick a favorite off the album because each song has a different strength whether it's the jangling strings in Sim Sala Bim and Grown Ocean, the sweet, gentle vocals of Montezuma and Lorelai, or the musical odysseys of The Shrine/An Arugment and The Plains/Bitter Dancer.  And although the lyrics are heavy, there is such a sense of hopefulness that is present throughout the album.  Beautiful harmonies are peppered with lush backing guitars and pounding  drums to create music that cocoons the listener into a lull.    

I adore this album and find it by far to be the most gorgeous thing I've heard this year.  Yet what makes this particular record so special, and what catapulted it to the top of my 2011 list is the back story behind it.  With this album, Fleet Foxes have triumphed over the struggles of creating a sophomore album.  They've created a mature, sophisticated album that has made them more then just another northwest indie folk band.  But most importantly, and what parallels my life so closely, it that they've worked through the hardship to create something extraordinary.  And that to me is the most important message.  In the darkness there is always light-- but you just might have to work a little harder to find it.  


So what's in store for 2012?  More love, more laughs, more happiness, and more friends.  I'm looking forward to it all.  

LISTEN:  SIM SALA BIM | GROWN OCEAN |  THE SHRINE/AN ARGUMENT | LORELAI | HELPLESSNESS BLUES | MONTEZUMA

NEXT WEEK:  FOUR TET  |  THERE IS LOVE IN YOU