Fleet Foxes – Crack-Up (2017)

When Fleet Foxes' first album came out 10 years ago, I was really excited about their sound. their magical folk sounds sounded timeless. The album could've just as well have been released in the 70's as well as in 2018. The album was filled with catchy melodies and great melancholia. I had really high hopes for the second album, but it was a bit of a disappointment. The sounds were similar, but the songs weren't as catchy and there was nothing new about the songs anymore. When this third album came out last year, I wasn't really expecting much of it. And I do think this is not quite as exciting album as it could've been. However, they do experiment with musical style a lot more, which makes the album at least quite interesting. Still, the experimentation in songwriting has led to a collection of songs that are difficult to tell apart from each other and to remember.



I wasn't even really planning on buying this album until I learned that Fleet Foxes was coming to perform in Brixton right next to my house. I had heard them being really good live, so I bought the tickets and I wanted to be prepared, so I bought the album as well. The songs actually worked quite well live, since it was interesting to hear them experiment on the instruments on stage. However, the difference was huge emotionally when they played some of the songs from the first album. Those songs carry so much more meaning to me and the whole crowd seemed to agree with me on that.

The album starts with low humming-style singing in the song I Am All That I Need / Arroyo Seco / Thumbprint Scar that turns into a loudly rolling almost progressive rock sounding folk epic. The song has many different parts changing the intensity completely. Cassius, - continues in similar vein and there are some electronic elements to the song as well. I feel like in the song itself is drowned under too much experimenting and it's difficult to make much sense of the song in terms of songwriting. - Naiads, Cassidies has some hypnotically rolling drums and clear surf-style guitars making it a laid-back song. Kept Woman sounds a lot like some of the songs on the first album, which probably makes it my favourite song on the album. This kind of melancholic melody, intertwining vocal harmonies and great guitar picking is what Fleet Foxes should be all about. This song is the first song on the album that's memorable. Third of May / Ōdaigahara is also a bit more straightforward song with a nice summery melody. If You Need To, Keep Time On Me takes the intensity to the minimum and again, this song is lacking in good songwriting. The whole song sounds like it's just about to start, but it never does. Mearcstapa is an impossible song to grasp. It just keeps flowing with a messy bass melody and some changing blinking instruments on top of it, but there's nothing memorable that would hook your attention. Fool's Errand is another good song on the album. This song has some actual songwriting, although, I feel like it could sound a bit better if they were to tone some instruments down a bit letting it flow more naturally. I Should See Memphis sounds a bit like Nick Drake, but again, the melody is very difficult to take hold of. The album ends with the title-track Crack-Up that has some great moments, but also some moments where you end up wondering who thought that was a good idea to add there.

One thing you can always count on is that Fleet Foxes make great cinematic music videos. I don't know if they have that much in terms of storyline, but the visuals are fantastic. Here's the music video for Fool's Errand. It features women in strange costumes dancing in sweeping nature landscapes. It's a great crazy imagery for this kind of crazy music.

I've been quite negative about this album in this text and it's difficult to put into words why that is, but I guess the main reason is that I really loved the first album by Fleet Foxes and I am a bit disappointed that I do not get the same kind of emotion from their newer work. There are some amazing sounds on this album that work when you really really tune in carefully to listen. But all in all, I think the experimentation in sounds has led to a messy and not very memorable album.

Listen to the album on Spotify.