Secret Meeting score: 80
by Philip Moss
It’s been 2,659 days since Fleet Foxes last played Manchester. In that time, singer and chief songwriter Robin Pecknold, went back to university (NYU Columbia) to study English, took a year’s carpentry course in the Pacific Northwest town of Port Townsend and completed a solo acoustic tour supporting Joanna Newsom. Guitarist Skyler Skjelset joined Beach House on their world tour, filling in on keyboard and bass duties. And drummer Josh Tillman became everyone’s favourite, outspoken Elton John impersonator – Father John Misty. All this before the group finally reconvened, sans Tillman, to record their latest and most musically complex record to date, Crack-Up.
Proud to display the fruits from their latest offering, the Seattle sextet kicked off at the Apollo with the opening track from their new album, I Am All That I Need / Arroyo Seco / Thumbprint Scar. Beginning with a mumbled, isolated lead vocal, Pecknold was joined by the beautiful harmony of bassist Christian Wargo – a feature that would prove to be a highlight for much of the set. The song then erupted into a chorus of bashed acoustics, emphasising, in case you’d forgotten, that no one does this brand of Beach Boys-inspired folk rock better.
Throughout the show, Fleet Foxes performed a balanced set that covered an almost equal number of songs from their three critically acclaimed records. This only further emphasised that the new record, despite mixed reviews upon its release, perfectly complements and more than holds up to their self titled debut and platinum selling, Grammy nominated second album, Helplessness Blues.
Despite a number of sound issues (the crowd at one point collectively screaming, ‘Get it sorted!’ to which Robin wryly responded, ‘This is why I don’t talk to the crowd’), there were highlights aplenty. White Winter Hymnal was every bit the reverent, ‘whoa’-a-long canticle you’d hope it would be. Third Of May / Ōdaigahara raged as Skjelset transformed the musical interludes that wrapped around Pecknold’s strained vocals with spates of Sonic Youth inspired musical explosions. Tiger Mountain Peasant Song and Oliver James, both performed solo by Pecknold, showed off his glorious, delicate fingerpicking – something which is often swamped by the splendid tumult of the band. And demonstrated, not that that we needed proof, that vocally he is truly among the elite.
Fleet Foxes are a special band whose special songs stand out from their peers in the folk/rock/indie ménage. Robin & Co – please don’t leave it so long next time.
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