Nearly three years after the Fleet Foxes released their debut self-titled album and follow-up EP “Sun Giant”, they released their second album “Helplessness Blues” on May 3, 2011.
With more stretching room than their last album, “Helplessness Blues” gives the Foxes a chance to divulge deeper into musicality while still maintaining the lush harmonies, poetic folk, and surprise orchestration their fans know and love. The musical mood is that of “Sun Giant” but definitely darker, more intricate and complex.
Overall, the album is a testament to frontman Robin Pecknold’s abilities, demonstrating a renewed sense of his confidence while also featuring several tracks in which his participation is minimal, only playing acoustic guitar.
While certainly a quality album, it does manage to disappoint in some aspects. The main area in which “Helplessness Blues” leaves something to be desired is lyrically. In the title track, Pecknold croons, “I was raised up believing I was somehow unique, like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes unique in each way you can see”, bringing a mandatory middle school poem to mind. Many other tracks on the album are similar lyrically, leaving fans longing for the elusive poetry that composed the lyrics on their debut album.
Another low point comes on the longest track, “The Shrine/An Argument” (8:07), which sounds like several songs combined into one, followed by the obnoxious noise of random string plucking and the saxophone noise of a young student, truly a nails-on-a-chalkboard effect. While diversity in song progression is one of the aspects of the Fleet Foxes that listeners love, this one is so random and bizarre that it simply leaves one puzzled.
For the most part, the Fleet Foxes know where their strengths are and stick to them in “Helplessness Blues”. Except for a few bumps in the road, the Fleet Foxes keep on the path of strong harmonization over folky instrumentalization, and the album has received generally positive critical acclaim.
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