New Fleet Foxes: “Blue Spotted Tail”
As we all sit on pins and needles now that Robin Pecknold has cut his hair, trimmed his beard and abandoned his Twitter account, signs that he may have made a wise decision begin to emerge, as demonstrated by this brand new—unaccompanied—Fleet Foxes studio performance for the BBC6.
The song is tentatively called “Blue Spotted Tail,” and even on his own—without the Josh, Casey, Skylar or Christian to wash it with harmonies and echoed instrumentation—the band looks poised to deliver on last year’s promise of continued greatness.
The song itself is a calm, introspective affair, tasked more with asking questions than sharing wisdom. See “Why is life made only for to end?” or “Why in the night sky are the lights on?” as exhibit’s A and B. The way Robin moves from major to minor notes—both with his guitar and with his voice—harkens to the great folk of yesteryear, going back to Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, and Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger before them.
This is timeless music, the hardest kind to make, the best kind to hear.
