SOUNDWAVES: Stream The New Fleet Foxes Album

Helplessness Blues

We have posted quite a few new Fleet Foxes songs as they have debut across the world wide web, including the official video for “Grown Ocean.” The followup to the band’s wildly popular self-titled first release drops next Tuesday, but they aren’t going to make their fans wait that long to listen to their new material. The band is now streaming the album in it’s entirety over at NPR’s website. Click here to stream Helplessness Blues then close your eyes and picture yourself in the northwest rainforest of the band’s native Washington.

Fleet Foxes’ frontman Robin Pecknold said of their new album in a press release “Musically it leans on country music a little bit more, in the slide guitar of songs like ‘Grown Ocean’ and ‘Bedouin Dress’ or ‘Helplessness Blues.’ We used a number of new instruments including the 12-string guitar, the hammered dulcimer, zither, upright bass, wood flute, tympani, Moog synthesizer, the tamboura, the fiddle, the marxophone, clarinet, the music box, pedal steel guitar, lap steel guitar, Tibetan singing bowls, vibraphone, along with more traditional band instrumentation.

“It’s called Helplessness Blues for a number of reasons. One, it’s kind of a funny title. Secondly, one of the prevailing themes of the album is the struggle between who you are and who you want to be or who you want to end up being, and how sometimes you are the only thing getting in the way of that. That idea shows up in a number of the songs.”

About Nick Howland

Nick Is the Webmaster at the LC Bridge. He is currently studying graphic design at Lewis and Clark Community College with plans to transfer and pursue his bachelor's degree at the end of this school year. He loves comics, music, and long walks on the beach.
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