When there’s a crispness in the air, most indie fans think of warm flannels, apple cider, rain and the comforting sound of the Seattle-based Fleet Foxes. In tandem with the arrival of the autumnal equinox at 9:31 A.M. EST on Sept. 22, Fleet Foxes released their fourth studio album, “Shore.” Other than some brief and ominous teasing on Instagram, the album came as a surprise to many.
It’s been three years since Fleet Foxes’ last album, “Crack-Up,” was released. While “Crack-Up” is a collection of uncertainty and mourning, “Shore” feels like newfound hope and appreciation for life. The album was accompanied with a nearly hour-long short film that helped visualize the 15 songs, though lead-singer Robin Pecknold’s lyrics do a flawless job of doing just such.
An immediate stand-out among the rest is “Sunblind,” the second song on the album that begins with the heartbreaking dedication of, “For Richard Swift.” Swift’s abrupt passing in 2018 impacted several artists and their recent work, including Kevin Morby, who also mentions Swift in his new song, “Campfire,” and helped contribute to “Sunblind.”
“Can I Believe You” is one of the more up-beat songs featured on the album, with hundreds of fan-submitted voices making up the harmonies. Pecknold compares a co-dependent relationship to the changing of the seasons in “I’m Not My Season,” as he describes sailing through the easy summers and challenging winters.
“This one was an intense two-year labor of love and I’m elated that it’s out in the world now,” Pecknold said in an Instagram post. “Really hope it can be a 55 minute life-preserver in this ocean of bad news.”
You can listen to “Shore” now on Spotify, Apple Music and any other music streaming app.