Fleet Foxes – “Shore” | Progressive Rock Central.com

Shore is the fourth studio album by American folk, and Seattle-based band, Fleet Foxes. It was intentionally released exactly at the autumnal equinox on September 22, 2020, however the CD and vinyl album did not make it to stores until March 2021. I have waited until I received the CD to review the album.

Shore, is a magnificent follow-up to the Fleet Foxes last album Crack-Up in 2017. It was made by Robin Pecknold without the other members of the band and features a “brighter” sound than their previous work. Shore features a number of collaborators, including other vocalists. Pecknold has called the album a celebration of “life in the face of death”.

The other collaborators include: Uwade Akhere, on vocals (tracks 1, 3, 15); The Westerlies: Riley Mulherkar, on trumpet (tracks 1, 2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15); Chloe Rowlands, on trumpet (tracks 1, 2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15); Andy Clausen, on trombone (tracks 1, 2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15); Willem de Koch, on trombone (tracks 1, 2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15); Joshua Jaeger, on drum-kit (tracks 2, 6, 11 15), percussion (tracks 2, 6, 11 15); Marta Sofia Honer, on violin (track 14), viola (track 14); Michael Bloch, on classical guitar (track 5); Christopher Bear, on drum-kit (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14, 15), percussion (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14, 15); Daniel Rossen, on electric guitar (track 14), acoustic guitar (track 14), piano (track 14); Homer Steinweiss, on drum-kit (tracks 2, 4, 8, 9); Kevin Morby – vocals (track 2)^[1];Meara O’Reilly, on vocals (tracks 4, 6, 14, 15), vocal arrangements (tracks 4, 6, 14, 15); Tim Bernardes, on vocals (track 12); Georgiana Leithauser, on vocals (tracks 1, 9); Frederika Leithauser, on vocals (tracks 1, 9); Juliet Butters, on vocals (tracks 1, 9); Faye Butters, on vocals (tracks 1, 9); and Beatriz Artola, on spoken dialog (track 14).

On the opener, “Wading in Waist – High Water”, the album opens without Robin Pecknold’s famous vocals. Uwade Akhere, sings vocals, “Summer all over. Blame it on timing. Weakening August water. Loose-eyed in morning. Sunlight covered over. Wading in sight of fire. And we’re finally aligning. More than maybe, I can choose”. A very short but wonderful guitar and vocal track, with some magnificent orchestration in the middle.

“Sunblind”, is the first song we finally hear Robin Pecknold’s vocals, “I’ve met the myth hanging heavy over you. I loved you long. You rose to go. Beneath you, songs, perfect angels in the snow. So, time to stage. Forget reserve. The type of great coronation you deserve. I’m going out for a weekend. I’m gonna borrow a Martin or Gibson. With Either/Or and The Hex for my Bookends. Carrying every text that you’ve given”. The perfect fireside song, with piano.

Robin is back for, “Can I Believe You”. He sings, “Can I believe you? Can I believe you? Can I Ever know your mind? Am I handing you mine? Do we both confide? I see it eat through every word I sow. See what you need to, do you doubt it’s yours. Now I’m learning the ropes. Never get this close. I’ve been wounded before”. A bold statement, full of Robin’s renowned vocal harmonies.

“Jara”, opens with an epic 70s, Bird’s like, guitar sound. Robin sings, “First sight of the first good morning since you’ve been out of town. The best I had was near as bad as the sign of the rising fall. Though we’re only alive a short while. So many beneath my feet. All weather, you walk with me And you were off on a wandering mile”. A comfortable wandering song set to wonderful acoustic guitar and soft drums.

“Featherweight”, almost has that opening harmony of 10CC’s “Dreadlock Holiday”. Which is a wonderful memory. But Robin sings, as the guitars strum, and the piano plays on, “All this time I’ve been hanging on. To an edge I caught when we both were young. That the world I want wasn’t near enough. All was distant, always off. In all that war I’d forgotten how many men might die for what I’d renounce. I was staging life as a battleground. No, I let that grasping fall. May the last long year be forgiven. All that war left within it. I couldn’t, though I’m beginning to. And we only made it together”. Yes, Robin, and 2021 has been so much better than the last four years. Change has arrived and we are gonna build back better.

On “A Long Way Past the Past”, Robin sings, “More than I had in mind. More than I wish I knew. And now it’s near on me. Some rush of red fear. And my worst old times look fine from here. We were left alone; we were proud of our pain. And so, I want to walk out in the night See the wide young river flood rain. We’re not on one straight line I made my own way through”. Another wonderful ambling, forest or beach hiking song.

“For a Week of Two”, is one of the stand-out tracks on this vocal – driven album. Robin sings, “Some lost coast. Some bright days. No face on your young head. Piece of wheat in your teeth. Carrying water, pears, and bread. And you’re close to some surrender. You can feel it at your feet. And later on, remember. When the fever broke and you could eat. And you’ve brought enough to last another week or two. Know the door is open know that I miss you”.

“Maestranza”, is another of the album’s stand-out tracks. Robin sings, “Monday night. Loud in the road outside. I saw the gate coming down. And smoke all around. The south hill. These last days con-men controlled my fate. Now that a light is on. Now that the water runs. And the heartless are nearly gone. No time to get it wrong”. Yes, Robin, the con-man is gone. Thank God.

“Young Man’s Game”, is full of hope. Robin sings, “New day rising, come close the blue blinds. I’ll be lying in my ocean of time. I could dress as Arthur Lee Scrape. But it’s a young man’s game. You should know. You’re my last hope. I’ve been solving for the meaning of life. No one tried before and likely I’m right. I’ve been lucky as sin. Not one thing in my way. Just the arena I was in. But it’s a young man’s game”. Yes, let the ocean fill the soundscape to close.

“I’m not My Season”, may be the best song on the album, besides the title song. Robin sings perfect lyrics, “Blood of my blood. Skin of my skin. You’re in roundelay water again. I want to face the condition you’re in. The old wrenches hardly turn me. Though I liked summer light on you. If we ride a winter-long wind. Well time’s not what I belong to. And I’m not the season”. Absolutely excellent.

“Quiet Air/Gioia”, opens with Robin singing to percussion, guitar, piano and soft drums, “Quiet air, quiet in blue. Quiet ice-melt, summer-red cedar. Some shape, float on faith, in the eye. Feeling a gold unfolding hand on me. Nowhere to go, no one I’d rather see. I never want to die”. He captured the feeling we all feel.

Robin has often captured some of my favorite places in Washington. For example: the song, “The Cascades”. This time he captures the power of the “Going-To-The-Sun Road”, in Glacier National Park in Montana. Robin sings, “Due west at a blind day’s end, flying pavement underfoot. Some horizon eyeing me up, often does right at dusk. Often known it wore that look. And I’ve known it one too many times. And the thought of flight for water whiter. Now those passing dotted lines”, as soft horns play on.

On “Thymia”, Robin sings, “Pair of tin cups rolling in the backseat. Rustle like a mallet on a downbeat. Rain will make rust, water on the concrete. Thymia accompany us all the way to Townsend”. Hopefully he means entertaining a beautiful spirit while travelling to Port Townsend, Washington.

“Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman”, is full of those soft horns and Robin singing, “I’ll run down. Lay my weight where it lies. I’ll come round. Out in sheltering sky. Seek you out. Like I wanted it when it was eighty-eight out. And the apricot flowers were coming in”. Soft relaxing, cerebral sounds.

“Shore”, is the kingpin! The best song on the album. The closer for this wonderful experiment in sound. Robin sings, to deep, classic piano, “Kin of my kin I rely on you. Taking me in. When a wave runs me through. As a shore I ever seem to sail to. Maybe I stayed little long, could be I needed shade. Sand on my feet. Can’t divide what’s memory and what’s dream. Afraid of the empty. But too safe on the shore. I remember meeting Clementine and weeping. I remember Prine. I remember you. After word of Berman. I remember Pfeiffer burning. I remember hoping I’d remember nothing. Now the quarter moon is out”.

Shore, was recorded at many locations, including: The Long Pond, Columbia County, New York (September 2019); Studios St Germain, Paris, France (October 2019); Vox Recording, Los Angeles, California (November 2019–March 2020); The Diamond Mine, Long Island City, Queens (July 2020–August 2020); and the world-famous Electric Lady Studios, Greenwich Village, New York (August 2020).

This is a wonderful album of lyrics, multiple vocalists, and concentrated, well designed musicianship. It is full of sounds not heard regularly, and inspiration rare. I am happy Robin Pecknold ventured out alone on this one. It allows him, his “solo moment”, while keeping it a band production. The Fleet Foxes will only be strengthened by Shore.

Yes Robin captured the fear, the anxiety and the uneasiness of the last year. He also poised this release on the precipice of change that was coming with the dimming light of the fall equinox. But the physical album returned in the spring. In time for the changes that took place during the winter.

The Con-Man is gone. Replaced by an empathetic and competent leader. The country can now move forward, having learned from the past four years, and knowing we have lost so much. But at the same time, we advance, renewed. Ready for the challenges that lie ahead. Once again realizing we have conquered the fear, that was our only hinderance. We can now return to the walks in the glaring sunlight. The hikes on mountains high. And the glorious knowledge we have survived, made a change, and now can fully appreciate a new dawn, morning walk on the shore.

Track List