Pacific Standard: Fox Confessor

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Fox Confessor

Not being in Seattle, I had never seen Fleet Foxes perform, so I was looking forward to this Saturday's Bowery Ballroom show for months. Even with extremely high expectations, I was not disappointed in the least—I think they were even better live than recorded. On the surface of it, there are a lot of bands out right now playing similar music, and many of my favorites are from the Northwest. What sets Fleet Foxes apart is the extent of their range vocally and musically. Nowhere is this more evident than in the arrangement of "Blue Ridge Mountains," which is so deeply layered that I notice new things every time I listen to it (and I'm not going to lie, I listen to it a lot). It's not on the EP—I got it from their MySpace page awhile back—but I'm guessing that song will head up what promises to be a truly amazing first full-length release later this Spring.

I ran into Sub Pop co-founder Jonathan Poneman in the crowd and it was cool to shoot the shit with him a little. I remember DJing at their tenth anniversary party and now they're going strong at 20 years deep—pretty impressive.

Ola Podrida played before Fleet Foxes and were nothing to shout about, but pretty good (the Quiet Ones, another Seattle band I really like, have been opening for FF and Blitzen Trapper in the NW and I was hoping they would make it to New York too). We decided to end on the highest note possible and split before Blitzen Trapper went on. On the sidewalk outside I met Robin Pecknold and his girlfriend Olivia (she's the model for Impulse, the Seattle boutique whose website I'm currently designing). And then we left and met up with my old Visionaire crony Aoife Wasser for dinner and delicious locally-crafted Six Point ales at Lil' Frankies. And then we waited for the train for what seemed like 8.5 hours. And then Emily and I went home. And then we pretty much passed out face-down. And it was good. The end.