Shore

Shore is a glorious, life-affirming collection of songs, a move to the centreground that shows his absorbing of musical influences is paying rich dividends. It has ‘future classic’ written all over it.

Robin Pecknold's ruminations on ageing and loss are a soothing balm in uncertain times. [Dec 2020, p.29]

Shore sees Fleet Foxes reborn and entering a new season themselves; a stunning evolution to behold. Fleet Foxes’ fourth album glistens with warmth, energy, and melody. Whereas Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues, and Crack-Up were earthbound, Shore sees Fleet Foxes entirely liberated and taking flight – a fresh incarnation of their former selves.

It is him following a path of lesser resistance through the landscape, writing actual choruses and melodic hooks, and finding that there is just as much natural brilliance and artistic merit to approaching his work in this manner.

Distress does not disappear entirely on Shore; it’s just accepted and worn, making for an album that is musically adventurous and spiritually forgiving, like it’s constantly breathing in fresh air.

Upon first listen, Shore lacks the immediacy of Fleet Foxes and 2011’s Helplessness Blues—at least from a sonic standpoint. But frontman Robin Pecknold’s astonishingly thoughtful lyrics quickly bring the listener back up to speed, at times recalling the grandiose scope of Crack-Up’s more cheerful moments, even if the instrumental indie-rock stylings are lagging a bit.

Shore turns out to be both vibrant and vital. Not vital in the essential sense, but filled with humanity at its healthiest—full of voice, sure of foot, aided by friends and strangers.

Shore takes all the complexity of The Crack-Up, Fleet Foxes’ 2017 outing, and unites it with the immediacy of the band’s classic self-titled 2008 debut.

Shore finds them exploring vaster range than before. No longer do they sound burdened by the need to commit to a particular mood; Pecknold sounds freer than ever to be himself.

As a collection, Shore emits a sense of coming through something and arriving anew with the welcome bruises that foster greater understanding and compassion.

It’s maturer in sound and ideas, but retains all the hallmarks of what made Fleet Foxes so great in the first place: rich and studied folk compositions, unrivalled harmonies, stories that strike to the core of nature and human existence, and a dedication to art that emotionally lifts you off this planet.

Pecknold has come up with a pleasing album about letting go and being thankful for what we’ve got, be it love in a time of quarantine or an old Silver Jews record.

All in all, it’s a beautiful record – and one that bears repeated plays. I’ve been playing it for around 10 days now, mostly on headphones, and it’s still revealing new details with each listen.

As natural and inviting as the curling of the leaves, ‘Shore’ is Fleet Foxes at their best. A voice of comfort for an atmomised generation, this is less album, and more treasure trove.

Though it is by no means a flawless album, it is exactly the kind of thing you should be using to set your mind at ease. Fleet Foxes have always been inherently hopeful and thankfully they’ve not lost sight of that, roll on 2021.

It can, by nature, feel like drowning in melted marshmallow over 55 minutes, but great moments stick out like ice sculptures in a snowdrift. [Dec 2020, p.80]

This latest offering from Fleet Foxes embodies their entire catalog of folksy sounds, seasons it with some jazzy elements, and pares down some bloat (only one track over five minutes). Perhaps the only surface flaw of this album is that certain songs build too quickly and fade too fast.