the ram, the goat, & the bull: the ram has nothing original to say but must say it anyway

It seems silly for me to try to say anything about Fleet Foxes now. So many people have said so many amazing things about their new album Helplessness Blues and I feel the urge to back up and say, “Yeah...what he/she said!”

As I continue to write about music I love on this little blog though, it also feels like it would be a glaring omission to leave them out just because I didn’t feel like I could say something original.

So I won’t try to say something original. I think my favorite review of the album comes from J. Crosby on Aquarium Drunkard’s blog. He speaks eloquently to the progression from their last album, the brilliant introspection of their lyrics, and the simple beauty of their harmony.

For me, listening to Helplessness Blues reminds me of many hours listening to my parents Crosby, Still, Nash, & Young records. I’ve listened to So Far so many times it’s embarrassing. I can only imagine what my parents must have thought watching their eight-year-old daughter climbing up on a stool to carefully place the needle on the gently rotating 45 and then singing along to “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.”

Fleet Foxes' new album has that same instant classic or destined for timelessness feeling as the music of their predecessor singer/songwriter/harmonizers. In truth, I have secret visions of a small Taryn digging through the then obsolute mp3 files on her mommy's old ipod some day for Helplessness Blues. Singing along proclaiming that if she “had an orchard [she’d] work til [she was] sore.”