No Filler Music Podcast - Ep 18: Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

Episode Date: August 12, 2018

​We gush and fawn over Robin Pecknold's lyrics and song composition as we dive into Fleet Foxes' second album Helplessness Blues​. We also take a look at what makes Fleet Foxes stand out in the landscape of indie-folk from that era. For more info, check out our show notes: https://www.nofillerpodcast.com/episode/ep-18-fleet-foxes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm pleased up believing I was somehow unique like a snowflake, distinct among snowflakes unique in each way you can see. And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd read a functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me. But I don't. And welcome to No Filler. The music podcast dedicated to sharing the often overlooked hidden gyms that fill the space between the singles on our favorite records. My name is Quentin. I've got my brother, Travis, with me, as always.

And today we are diving into Fleet Fox's 2011 release Helplessness Blues. Travis, I know you're excited. I just want to hear your sweet voice before I fucking keep talking. Oh, hey, how's it gone? Key, what did you think of my solo episode that I was, that I had to read? man you're just looking for me to pat you on the back you saved us dude you saved us um something

happened last week when we recorded our sidetrack episode for the black sabbath my recording was all fucked up and it turns out my macbook is just flipping me the bird dude because i can't figure out what's wrong with it i cannot record on it right now so right now i'm recording on my other laptop i'm using ableton right now i sure as hell hope that it sounds like that i'm sure as hell hope that it sounds Good because if not, we're in deep shit. I mean, Ableton is legit, dude. Yeah. We'll see.

It'll be fine. Everything's fine. I thought you were using Audacity for a second. Hell no. Okay. No, dude. Yeah, you should be fine. So anyways, the reason I wanted to just hear your voice real quick is because I'm going

to talk a little bit here and we're going to dive right into our What You Hurts because we got a lot to cover today on this album. There's a lot of clips I want to play. I'm not going to get into it now. But let's start with you, dude. Let's listen to what you've been, what you've been heard in. Okay, this is what I've been heard. What you've been heard.

What you've been listening to this week? This is what I've been heard into lately. So I've actually been sitting on this one for a while because we did our heavy metal episodes, right? and this guy would not be appropriate to play for the Black Sabbath episode. So I had never heard of this guy up until maybe a month ago. He is a singer-songwriter. He pretty much started in the early 2000s, right? But he has a very, like, eclectic mix of sounds that he, like, I went back and listened

to his earlier stuff. And, like, he's kind of all over the map. especially with this album that I'm going to play a clip from. This guy's name is Cass McCombs. Have you ever heard of him? Okay, I've heard the name, but I can't say that I know what he's up to. Okay, yeah. Like I said, I had never heard of him before.

But I think, I'm trying to figure out how I came across him, but it was a related artist's shuffle on Spotify. And I can't even tell you what the artist is that I was listening to. But anyway, I'm just going to get right into it. So he had a album that came out in 2016, which is his latest album. He hasn't released any material since then. And it's called Mangy Love. It came out in 2016.

The song that I'm playing for you is the first track on the album. And it's called Bum, Bum, Bum. And you'll know why it's called Then in just a second. Anyway, here we go. This is called Bum, bum, bum by Cass McCombs. Delightful. Yeah. Yeah, so I think I was drawn to him immediately for his lyrics.

I just, you know, you can tell, you can tell when you're listening to a singer-songwriter when they're a lyricist. You know, like you can immediately sense that like, you know, the way that they're putting words together and the way that they're, they're phrasing things and whatnot. Oh, yeah, dude. Man, that ties in really well. Exactly. With Robin Peknold and Fleet Foxes. Exactly, yeah.

That's one of my main draws to Robin Peknold as a musician is just the way he tells stories through his songs. Same. So, so this is Cass McCombes? Cass McOmmes, yeah. Okay, so this is what he goes by, right? Yeah, that's his name. Okay. Okay.

I loved it, man. it reminded me of, I don't know, it kind of had a clientele vibe in the way that he sings, not so much like the guitar composition, anything else like that. Yeah. Also, um, a band that no one else knows about probably, but this, it kind of reminded me of youth group too. I don't know if I agree with you on that one. Okay.

Just the way that he's saying. Okay. I mean, I can, I can hear, I can hear a little bit of, um, clientele. Plaintill. I mean, clientele has got that. thick English accent when he sings but yeah I mean it's more of a soft

like Cass McCombs has a softer delivery at least on this song like I said he's all over the map on this album yeah so I know this guy's been around for a while when did this? Yeah this came out in 2016 this is his latest album but he goes back to 2001

and so like what's interesting is he's kind of been like a supporting act as far as like the bands he's toured with he's never had his own headlining tour But listen to the bands. Really?

Yeah, listen to the bands that he's performed with or toured with. Ariel Pink, Cat Power, Band of Horses, Andrew Bird, Arcade Fire, the Shins, Iron and Wine, the Walkman. So, like, pretty much all the bands from that era, the early 2000s, the era that you and I have such an affinity for. Like, this guy was, like, just kind of a circling around, like, the outset of that, you know what I mean? Yeah, so if you're a fan of these bands, chances are you've caught Cass McCombs live. Yeah, you may have seen any of those bands that I mentioned back in the early O's. You may have seen Casmecombs open for him and maybe forgot or didn't realize it. So, what you've been heard.

I appreciate that, brother. So I've been listening to this guy, his name is Christian Mattson. he's from Sweden he goes by the tallest man on earth and I've been getting back into him lately because I picked up his debut album Shallow Grave

I honestly didn't think in a million years that I would find this album as an LP anytime soon that's one of the greatest moments any any record collector's life Q I know dude seriously like Especially when you stumble upon it in the wild you know you're just like

yeah Exactly. Yeah. So, you know, so I've been going back and listening to his other albums. He's one of my favorite singer-songwriters of the last decade. There's just something about him. For me, mainly it's, so his voice is very unique and what, and his lyrics are very personal. And, I mean, just like Robin Pecknell, dude.

I mean, we're just bringing artists. for our what you heards that that tie on really well with flea foxes and that and and his guitar styling is it's very unique he does a lot of finger picking um and so i'm not a guitar player but i i'm you know a lot of what he does is it's a lot of very unique tuning of the guitar as well a lot a lot of you know very similar to to what nick drake did um so This album is called There's No Leaving Now. It came out in, I believe, 2012. Yeah.

And the track I'm going to play for you is called Leading Me Now, and it's track three on the record. It's a sudden good attack. It's my oars and I carry, hanged forth and back, but we'll make it some out. I have all What's mine And you're leading me now I was really I would lose our breath and fire

As we give liars every night But I get you some mouths inside Because you're leading me now I was really digging that guitar And his voice, I could take or leave Yeah, dude So here's the thing man I remember the first time I heard Christian, it was a while ago, dude.

And I remember I sent you a song of his and you said the same thing. So I didn't like it back then? Yeah, you didn't like his voice. At least I'm consistent, you know? I guess. And that, dude, I mean, that's a running theme on this podcast, dude. One of us either hates or loves a band and it's because of the singer and the way that they sing. the reason I love Christian Mattson

I love the tallest man on earth so much is because of his voice dude he's just it's you know it's all the imperfections and it's just really like vulnerable and it's just out there it just feels like every song of his that I hear

feels like like a home recording like a DIY it's just him and his in his guitar you know yeah um I just love him and that's fine dude you don't have to enjoy his music yeah we we know all about um disagreements on voices from yeah our sat with episodes so that's fine yeah just wait man

we got a few episodes that we're planning and doing in the next the next couple months that we're really gonna be we're really gonna be getting into it dude yeah for sure all right so hey dude let's go ahead and just get into it man so there's four songs like that I want to share from this album today. And we got a couple clips, I think at least two clips for each of them. Well, not at least, we have at most two clips from each of these, but we got a lot to cover today.

So let's talk about Fleet Foxes a little bit. I don't know, so I don't know where to start. I don't know if we wanna really like dive into their history that much, but if you don't know Fleet Foxes, this is a band. lead frontman

singer-songwriter his name's Robin Pecknold they're a band based out of Seattle, Washington and I mean, what would you call them, dude? I mean, folk, they're a folk band for sure. So let's, here are the,

here's what their Wikipedia page lists out. Indie folk, Americana, baroque pop, folk rock Baroque pop I like Because

Yeah Pecknold I don't really know His background as far as like Like his musical Like his education You know But I feel like

I don't know The word Baroque just makes you think Like I mean classical Right And when you think that you think Classically trained And when you listen to a Fleet Fox's song

You know There's a lot of lot to it. You know, it seems like he's very humble. Like when you, when you listen to him in interviews and I was actually just watching a live clip of them the other day, I think from this year, actually, at this pitchfork music festival. They had this horn section, this group of musicians that they had that was touring with them. And he kind of introduced them like halfway through the set after they had been playing a few songs with them. And he said, you know, he's like, let's give it up for these guys.

You know, we've got some real musicians up on here for once. You know, so this is a guy that doesn't think too highly of himself. He's very critical of himself as a songwriter and as a musician. But when you listen to a Fleet Fox's song, it is very complex musically and, like, harmonically. Yeah, the fact that he doesn't consider himself a real musician is almost laughable, you know. Right, exactly. Because he writes such beautiful music. But not only is he like critical of himself as a musician, but obviously, or it's obvious through his lyrics that he's also very, like, introspective and like vulnerable.

Just, you know, when he reflects on his life as a whole, you know what I mean? That's why I connect with his lyrics so much. That's why I like his lyrics so much because you feel like you're you're connecting with him, Robin Pecknell. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. So let me say this, dude. So with what you're saying there, I agree. And I feel like that didn't really happen until helplessness blues.

Yeah, I agree with you. Yeah, well, so I was listening to some interviews as well. and he was he was saying that helplessness blues the way that it or the reason that it comes off the way that it is as far as like being very like introspective and whatnot is because you know they came out with their first album and saw huge success and then they go into the studio to write this next one and like he's sort of reflecting on what has happened to them in the last like year or two or whatever so you know that's why it's coming off the way because He himself is becoming very, like, reflective and vulnerable because all the success has just been thrown on them, you know, and now they see themselves in this situation that they didn't think that they would be in so quickly. Yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah.

Especially with their, I mean, their genre of music, really, you know, like, who would have thought back in, I mean, okay. So when did, so they're, they're, um, self-titled. came out in 2008. I feel like they jump started the folk revival, I guess. You know, I mean, like... Yeah, I mean, if you think about it... Like, when did Mumford and Sons fucking jump on the scene? I mean, I...

Dude, I don't... I'm not a big fan of them. Me neither. Like, I feel like that was around the same time, and I don't know who came first. No, man. Well, actually, you're right. Yeah, it was about the same time. It was around the exact same time.

So, yeah, this is just... That was just the time for that kind of music. Yeah, that's probably why Philly Foxes saw the huge success that they did because we just had an appetite for that kind of music for some reason back then. Yeah. But yeah, we had talked about with Kings of Convenience how when they were doing stuff in the earlier 2000s, like 2003, 2004, that was when that quiet as a new loud type movement was happening with. Right. With the quieter, you know, acoustic type songs. And so.

Like Peter Bjorn and John. Yeah. And, man, what are they called? Bell and Sebastian and all them. So this is just, I feel like this is, this comes from that as well, you know. Yeah. So I think what I want to do is just play our first clip real quick and then go from there because. So, okay, let me just say that I've listened to this album at least four times all the way through in the last week.

It is, so, Philippe Foxes have released. three albums in the last decade. It takes them a while to come up, to release albums, partly because Robin Pecknold is so

particular with recording and with all that he's very critical of himself, you know? Well, he also took a hiatus after this album and he went back to... After this album, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he went back to school for a little bit.

Yeah, so so they just came out with an album, what was it last year? Yes. Crack up? Crack up, yeah. Yeah, and that's growing on me, and it's, you know, it's really hard to pick, but there's just something about helplessness blues.

It's, there's just something about it, dude. It's still my favorite Fleet Fox's release to date, and it's mainly because of the lyrics. So let's start with our first clip. actually we're just going to play the song all the way through it's it's pretty short this is the first track on the album uh it's called montezuma all right so that's the opening track on this album right off the bat dude the lyrics one of my favorite lines that robin pecknold has come up with so far dude i just love the first line um he says so now i am older than my mother and father when they had their daughter.

Now, what does that say about me? I feel like for us at the age that we are, dude, like, I feel like that's the reason this resonates so much with me because we're pretty much the age that our dad was when he had us, right? We are. He's born in 1956. We were born in 87. Yeah, 31.

You're right. We just turned 31, man. Yeah. You know? You know, it's the same thing that probably a lot of people in our generation especially have that have that thought in their head, especially when you consider that a lot of people in our age group are waiting much later to have children, right?

Yeah, for one reason or another, you know, I mean, it's just, yeah, for a lot of us, it's just not on our radar right now at this age. And we're not going to get into that, man. But like, you know, and that's something that that he has talked about in a few interviews. He talks about, quote, throwback bands. You know, where they're, you know, it's like it's, it's a traditional folk sounding band, right? Yeah. But, yeah, I feel like the word folk gets kind of tossed around anytime you hear an acoustic guitar.

You know what I mean? Yeah. But I agree that that's what you call them. I just, you know, they are more than just a folk band, you know what I mean? Yeah. I don't know. But hey, let's, let's, I want to, I want to read more of these lyrics because I am just as in love with that line as you are, but I also like the second verse. He says, in death or in excess, both the slave and the empress will return to the dirt as naked as when they came.

I wonder if I'll see any faces above me or just cracks in the ceiling, nobody else to blame. I love that. I love that, man. It's beautiful. He's talking about dying. He's reflecting on his death. He was probably what, in 2011, he was 24, 25. He was 25 because he was born in 186.

Man, not even that old, dude. No, but like. He's talking about, well, I see, he's essentially asking, thinking about the afterlife. He's saying, am I going to see faces above me or am I going to just see the cracks in the coffin basically is what he's saying yeah yeah i love that no and so and dude and this theme pops up again and again throughout this album um it's it's basically robin picknold what you said he's probably about 24 25 when he was writing these lyrics actually you know what dude he was writing these songs like three years even before they released this album

around 2008, 2009, like he was writing these lyrics right after the release of their self-titled. Anyways, yeah, you know, you're in your, your, your, your early to mid-20s. It's almost like he's thinking, he's reflecting on his life as though is it at a midlife crisis, but he's still really young. You know, and it's like, is this, is this what it's going to be for me? Is there any turnaround? around like is this is there you know can I change my life around at this point or or am I stuck in my ways like you know that comes up a lot so I'm going to read some lyrics from a few tracks that we're not going to play today just because I love the lyrics so much throughout this album before we jump to the next one so what track is this track uh 8 on the album is it's called lore

lie. We're not playing this song today, but I love the lyrics. The first line in this song is, so guess I got old. I was like trashed on the sidewalk.

I guess I knew why. Often it's hard to just sweet talk. I was old news to you then. I just love that song, man. I love those lyrics. Thinking of yourself like trash on the sidewalk.

But this is coming from a guy that's in his early to mid-20s, right? Like, you're not old, dude. You know, I just, I just love that he's in that mindset while he's writing this album, you know. Yeah, again, he's just, you know, he's very vulnerable and he doesn't, uh, what I like about him is that he, he doesn't shy away from, from putting those emotions down on paper and then turning them into songs. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So going back to throwing them into the throwback bands category, but he says, you know, we're kind of different than that in the sense that most of our lyrics are very personal and contemporary. It's not like, quote, let's end the Vietnam War. He's kind of like bringing back those folk bands from the 60s and 70s, right? Their lyrics are not like that. His lyrics are very personal, and I couldn't find this interview again. I had read it once before, and I couldn't find it again to quote it.

But he was interviewed again around the same time, and he's talking about this kind of theme throughout this album, where it is very personal. but he felt like this is something that our generation could really relate to because we are very self-reflective. You know, like he's saying, it's not about like a huge growth, like a movement that they're trying to start like it was in the 60s. Hey, so we got to dive, we got to jump into the next one, dude. Let's do it. All right.

So the next clip, now this is going to be, this is going to be sort of a shift in in sort of the vibe a little bit. For sure. And this is a... Yeah, and hey, you know what? Okay, real quick, before we play this, I just want to... So something that I didn't realize

about how Robin Pecknold viewed their self-titled, which again came out in 2008. He says... So he was interviewed by Pitchfork in 2011. No, I'm sorry. In 2009. So this was in between these albums.

They had asked him, how would you say that the new songs you're writing are different from the first album? And Pecknold says, I think they're less poppy. He says, I listened to the first record again, and I was kind of nonplussed. He says, some of it I was into,

or I could see why we did that at the time, but some of it would we would never, we would just never listen to again. So basically he's saying there's some songs on the first record that he just can't stomach listening to anymore. He thinks that it was too upbeat. So I just thought that was weird. And like looking back to their debut album, like it's not, I mean, upbeat, sure, but like not in a cheesy way. And not in a way that I would think would be so cringe worthy to him that he couldn't even listen to it anymore.

I mean, I think that's just a perfectionist talking, you know? Right. I know that he is that way with the music. And, you know, I can relate too, you know. If I look at something that I, that I coded, you know, five, ten years ago, it's like, Jesus Christ, what happened? You know? Yeah. Yeah, that's true.

You know, yeah. Yeah, it's just, I think that's the artist coming out, you know, plenty of people. If you're a creative person and you, and you create things, you know, whether it be like, you know, art, traditional art or whatever. It's like you're never really satisfied with the way that it turns out. Like there's always things you can do to improve on it. And that's probably just what he's going through. And what's funny is like if he's saying that the stuff that they wrote on helplessness blues was less poppy,

the stuff that they wrote on crack up, it's the same. Like it's way less poppy if you want to use that word. Even more so than helplessness blues. Yeah, dude. Their latest album is an album that you've, really do need to listen to all the way through to even understand like to even appreciate um and that's not the same with helplessness blues um yeah dude that's just robin pecknold as a musician you know like um maturing as a musician so let's listen to track three which is our next clip it's um it's called

sim salabim and we've got a couple clips um really it's i mean i'm not really separating too much like there's not much that I'm leaving out really but there's something that happens halfway through the song that I wanted to share so let's listen to the first clip it's it's from the beginning of the song and we'll go

from there he was so kind such a gentleman tied to the ocean side lighten a match on the suitcases latching the fading ruffled the fur of the

Colleenie neath the table Ran out the door Through the dark Carved out his initials in the bar That was all that it took for me Despite the reservations What do I see in your Aricide incantations

Sim Salab So yeah that has one of those moments Um That you hear a lot of in A Fleet Fox's song where something just happens and, you know, it's sort of, it moves you in a way, you know. Yeah. His music, a lot of times, it moves you, you know, it makes you feel something.

I mean, dude, I'll, I mean, I'm going to, I'll bring it up when we play the clip, but, I mean, there's a few moments in this album. And this doesn't happen to me a lot when I'm listening to music, but, like, it, there's moments that just give, like, gives me chills. Yeah, I agree. I agree. I agree 100%. And that's hard, like you said,

that's hard to do. So when, yeah, and that's not something that, it's not something that happens by accident. You know what I mean? Like, you can't just be a mediocre musician and, and,

and, and, and, you know what I mean, you have to know what you're doing. And you have to know how to, how to structure a song and compose a song and, and,

uh, you know, use your, your vocals and like levels and all that kind of stuff. Because, you know, in this first clip that we played, when the moment happens,

you know, everything just kind of comes in. Yeah. It goes right along with the lyrics too, you know. Yeah. So I just want to give a shout out to, so one of the members of the band, and I know for sure that this guy's been with them

since the very beginning, because I remember watching this clip on YouTube with them playing some of their songs from their very, very first EP, which is like the early years. I think it was, I mean, it's a self-title, but it's not the, it's not their, it's called the Fleet Fox's EP. It came out in 2006. And I know this guy was in the band at the time. His name's Skyler. I'm not going to try to pronounce his. Q. He's the guitar player. Well, he's one of the guitar,

but he's the guy that plays the mandolin. Oh, okay. He's like the guy, like if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're, he's the guitar player. He's, he's, he's, he's, like, he's the guy, if you're, if you're, if you're, he's if you've seen Flea Fox is live, because there's a few members credited for playing mandolin, but this is the guy that busts out the mandolin and plays it. And I'm sure he's the one that played the mandolin

in this track. He's been in the band since the beginning. It's him and Becknell that are the founding members, so they're the only two that have been around since the beginning.

Yeah. So, yeah, so it's what, mandolin? and there's a string instrument, like a violin or something, and drums. But that's pretty much it. Like, there's not that much going on in this clip. But, yeah, what they do with these instruments, again, it is very moving.

And, yeah, it just kind of pulls on the heartstrings, dude. And let's play clip two. the second part of this song is pretty much just a really cool, like, build up to this really cool, just guitar. Like, this just builds up to this really cool guitar part, and then the song just kind of dies out, and then it leads into the next song. It's really beautifully.

Yeah, another great thing about a Fleetpox's track is that a lot of times it's got different parts to it, you know? It's not going to follow your standard, like, verse, chorus verse chorus you know what I mean like they have a lot of different you know again it's like this guy this guy composes music you know maybe this is why he gets

why the Baroque pop label gets thrown onto it but like he he knows how to compose a song let's just put it that way but yeah let's listen to this next clip here yes sir and that's how the song ends too it just kind of fades out pretty much yeah and and it just

leaves right into the next track um god it's so good, dude. I mean, you can't not, like, stomp your feet and just, like, sway back, you know, like... Yeah, yeah, it definitely, uh... Oh, so good. Yeah, it's good.

And, you know, I think this might go without saying, too, but, like, this is one of those albums that you really need to, um, to, like, spend some time with as far as, like, listening to it with some good headphones or just, you know, being alone with it, right? I mean, I think that's true for a lot of Fleet Fox's songs, you know, You need to be able to focus on it and really listen to the story he's telling and like the things that they're doing with with the music. You know, it's just one of those albums. Yeah. So, sidetrack real quick, dude.

I don't know if this is just the difference between, no, I was going to say, I don't know if it's the difference between people that would consider themselves music fans versus just like casual listeners of music. I was going to say that, but I know a lot of people that are really into music, but they don't listen to albums all the way through. They just don't. They'll listen to an album and pick up songs from the album and throw them on playlists to listen to later, but they won't revisit albums and approach it as like an entire piece to, you know, to listen to from start to finish. But that's something that I've always,

that's what I've always done with music. And I think you can agree. Yeah, I feel like a lot of time, you know, of course, I think it depends on the artist and the band. If it's a band that's just putting on a record dictated by a record label, you know, like a really mainstream band, there's going to be, it's not going to have, you know,

Hold on. Let me try to get my thoughts together here, Q. What I'm saying is, like, to me, I agree with you that, like, it's just better to listen to an album from start to finish, but it depends on the artist, you know. If it's just some mainstream artist where their focus is on the singles and the rest of it is just literally filler, then it's not going to have the, there's, you know, There's, there are songs that are obviously, you know, well, I'm going to skip over that one because it blows.

Yeah. And you know what, dude, it's funny because, I mean, duh, like our, this entire podcast is dedicated to the songs that aren't singles. Obviously, that's what we're all about. Yeah. It is worth listening to albums all the way through. The thing about, the thing about people who don't listen to albums all the way through is that they're going to miss the songs. that aren't singles and they're going to miss a lot of times songs that are better than the singles, you know, but that's the thing.

You know, it depends on the artist, you know. And so, you know what? Like, let's just say real quick, too, like with our generation, right? Like most of us don't listen to the radio, right? You go to Spotify. If you're into an artist, you're going to go to their Spotify page. And a lot of people will just listen to the most popular tracks, right? because Spotify will set it up that way that you can just push play on the most popular songs and just going to play them for you.

And that's great. And, you know, but you're going to miss out on some really, really great songs if you don't give the album a listen all the way through. That's what we're saying, especially with bands like Fleet Foxes, bands like Kings of Convenience, you know, other bands that we've covered on this podcast so far. it's worth a listen all the way through and it's worth really dedicating an evening to or a jog through the park or something throw it some earbuds on and just push play

at track one and just zone out and listen to the album all the way through so let's dive into our next clip we're probably preaching to the choir on this one you know as far as like maybe if you're listening to if you're seeking out a music podcast it's probably you know a safe bet to assume that you're a fan of

of music and you understand what we're talking about here, you know? Yeah. Yeah, so I threw in an extra song yesterday. I listened to this album again all the way through yesterday, and we were only going to do three songs on this album, but as I was listening to it, again,

I just couldn't, I couldn't not play this song. Track five on the album, It's called The Plains slash Bitter Dancer. So this is the first time that Robin starts to do this in his albums. And he does it on their latest album, Crackup, where I don't know, I'm not sure the process behind it, you know, how it happens. But he's got two songs that he throws on one track, but I feel like they are two songs. puts them together. You know, these are, these are, I think, I think the, the ideas are, or, are supposed to be

kind of joined, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure how. It's like, it's a movement. It's a, it's a movement, you know. Yeah. So this song, there's two, there's two parts of this song.

Um, and it's two like distinct ideas, I guess, you know. The first part of this song is really just this really cool, like, instrumental. I mean, it's not only instrumental. They also sing, but it's really just like, there's no lyrics, right? But they're singing in this part. Yeah, and it starts off very, very quiet. Yeah, very quietly.

And then they start harmonizing, just kind of ooze and ahs, right? And then this clip will fade out with the second part of this song called Bitter Dancer, which is like the quote unquote proper song on this track

and I just love I just love the way that that these two ideas combine into one song it's just I mean just when you're listening to it it just it gets you man

this is one of those moments that just kind of get your hair standing up yeah so again this is track five it is the planes slash bitter dancer Just as the sand Just as the tar

Seeps up from the ground Bitter dancer Ever turning So was the day That you came to Man I just love the way that That those two ideas

Converge or whatever I don't know how to say it. Yeah I mean it's the same For a lot of their songs I mean the way that this That Robin knows how to how to, like you said, progress through a song and take you through an idea. You know, like, you know, the lyrics, right?

Yeah, he says, so, so he says, just as the sand made everything round, just as the tar seeps up from the ground. Bitter dancer ever turning, so was the day that you came to town. And that's when, like, the fucking drums come in, dude. And, like, just the way they harmonize and everything during the song, it just, It just Yeah, and listen to the next Yeah, listen to the next verse, dude.

You took a room and you settled in, washed off the chalk from your weathered skin, daylight sleeper, bloody reaper. You took a room and you settled in. I just, yeah, the guy's, I mean, he's a poet, you know, he's poetic. He knows how to use imagery in his,

in his lyrics. And, you know, I think there's, there seems to be a theme too with, with his lyrics. of nature, you know, and earth, you know, like earthiness. Yeah, a lot of times he'll... He talks about the ground and sand and ocean and all that stuff. No, like, as you're saying this, like, I'm realizing this too, man.

Like, a lot of times he will find a way to relate, like, everyday circumstances with, like, you know, a thousand plus year old processes, you know, like he's talking about, um, tar seeping up from the ground. Yeah, tar is heaping up from the ground. He talks about, um, the earth. Yeah. Like, in another, another song that we're not going to actually play today. Uh, towards the end of the album, one of the tracks, it's called blue spotted tail. You know, he asks questions like, why in the night sky are the lights hung?

Why is the earth moving around the sun? floating in the vacuum with no purpose, not a one. Why in the night sky are the lights hung? Why is life made only for to end? Why do I do all this waiting then? Why this frightened part of me that's faded to pretend? Why is life made only for to end? You know, like...

I mean, it's very existential, you know? Extremely. But yeah, but yeah, like going back to... He is being very philosophical for sure. Yeah. I love it, dude. He's just a very reflective guy, man. He just thinks about all this stuff and then puts it on paper.

I think what I appreciate the most about this album and about Robin Pechnell's lyrics and, you know, him just being fully aware of all this is that he knows that these are the kind of lyrics that people around our age can relate to. And he's confident in that enough to basically write a, entire album that's that's nothing but that it's nothing but self-reflection um you know for for a person approaching his you know finishing up his 20s right like i mean the irony of the irony of that is that when you listen to or when you you you you know when you look at what what's on the on the radio right now they're definitely not singing about stuff like that you know what i mean so yeah you're right right so hey you know what let's just keep the tunes going man Yeah.

So our last song we're going to play. I'm actually going to, so we've got two clips. The first clip is going to be the song as you hear it on the album. And the second clip is going to be from their concert at Halden Pop, which is a music festival that happens in Germany. And this is going to be from the same year that the album released. So, anyways, one thing about Fleet Foxes, and knowing this now, after listening to this episode about Robin Pecknell, he is kind of a perfectionist if you get a chance to see Fleet Foxes do it, because you will, your jaw will be dropped for the majority of the concert, just in what they can pull off live. and I wanted to kind of share some of that with you. So this is another one of those, you know, two song ideas combined, right?

So we've got the first half of the song is called The Shrine. Actually, you know what, dude? I'm only playing, so I'm only sharing the Shrine part of this song because I guess we should do a little like public service announcement, right? for this album because something happens in an argument that for me, I just, I don't understand why they did it. And I usually skip over it when it happens. But in the second half of this song during the an argument segment of the song, there's this like, what is it, trumpet or horn. Yeah, it's a little bit, uh, it's a little bit, uh,

It's a little deafening. It's, yeah, and it's, they did that on purpose. Obviously, they did that on purpose. Sure, yeah. I mean, maybe they're trying to. It's got to be reflective of the theme of the song, you know. Right. Like, that sounds like an argument to me, right?

Yeah, right, exactly. Yeah, basically it's just the horn, like, there's a horn that's just going haywire, right? It's not musical at all. But here's the thing. There's two other songs on this. album after this song that are worth listening to so if you get to this part in the song and you can't stomach it just hit skip there's two more songs that are worth listening to on this album don't give up on it yet that's my public service announcement yeah so this is just the shrine um i've got two clips one of

them's going to be as you hear it on the album second part's going to be a live version so here's clip one from the shrine. The dust and pollen to the old stone fountain in the morning after dawn underneath were all these pennies fallen from the hands of children they were there and then were gone. So, dude, again, like, when I first heard this song and I heard him just fucking belt that line, what does he say? Sunlight over me no matter what I do, right? Yeah. Dude.

But then what's great about it is he is screaming, literally, he's screaming that line. And then the very next line is the rest of the band. Apples in the summer all cold and sweet every day. I haven't know what this word means. A pageant complete? I don't know what he's saying. Yeah. No, but I don't know what you're saying.

He just like belts out. I mean, he doesn't hold back. Another thing that we didn't even really get into because we have so many clips to share with the, all the day. I didn't really get into the backstory behind this, the recording of this album and all that. But, like,

early on, Robin Pecknell's vision of how this album was going to be recorded was he wanted to, basically, he wanted to use only old equipment, old microphones. He wanted to record everything on tape.

You know, he wanted to approach it as retro as possible. And he wanted to keep in mistakes. You know, like he wanted to have all the imperfections and he wanted to just have that, you know, he wanted to just bring you into the studio with him. So their producer just kind of went along with that for a little bit, but basically he scrapped that idea pretty early on like, you know, that's just, it's not going to work that

way. You can't have mistakes and imperfections in an album. but that's what Pecknold wanted and that's the idea that he had and when I hear the song I can kind of hear that and the way that he just screams that line you know like you can hear his voice kind of crack in in you know like if you continue to listen to the song after we faded it out you know you hear those imperfections and that's what just makes your hair stand up on it when you hear him sing that and like you were saying right from that part It cuts to harmonies and really pretty sounding. Really soft and pretty harmonies, yeah. And even the lyrics, dude. Apples in the summer are all golden sweet, you know?

Right. Let's go ahead and play a clip two. Again, this is going to be the second part of the first half of this song, but this is going to be the live clip from a music festival in Germany. same year that this album came out. So this is them fresh off releasing this album. This is them touring for this album. And just to give you some context,

this is going to be towards the very end of their set. And this was a very long set. They played for over an hour. This is like two or three songs towards the very end of their set. So again, this is the Shrine clip two. This is a live clip from 2011. at Haldern Pop Music Festival in Germany.

The part of, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's really, it's one of those things where it's like, you know, it's really hard to describe how powerful that moment is in that song. Especially when you hear it live, but I mean, it comes across that way on the actual track too.

I mean, you can really hear the emotion coming from his delivery of those lines, you know, Like his voice almost cracks a little bit with emotion. Yep. And really, it evokes emotion when you hear it, man. I mean, I always get moved by that part. Look, like right now, just thinking back to the song in my mind, I'm getting chills.

Right. It's such a powerful moment. I mean, and again, it's like there might be some people out there that that are listening to us say this and are like, what the hell are they talking about? I didn't feel anything. But I mean, you know, I don't know, there's just something about it. And it just speaks to what a powerful, like what a impactful songwriter he is. I don't know. I don't know what else to say.

Okay, let's just read. Okay, I'm just going to read the lyrics, the first line in that second part that we played. So he says, in the morning, waking up to terrible sunlight. First off, dude, like, usually when you think of sunlight. you think of like positive things right yeah my thought there is a terrible sunlight this person this person is depressed and they just want to stay in bed and they're like you know fuck this sunlight and he says all diffuse like skin abuse the sun is half its size when you talk you hardly even look in my eyes in the morning in the morning yeah so maybe it's a you know it's a right it's people going through

a rough patch in a relationship yeah and then and then the second line fuck it man i'm just going to read it in the doorway holding every letter that I wrote in the driveway pulling away putting on your coat in the ocean washing off my name from your throat in the morning in the morning dude something's going down man yeah something's going down there's a breakup there's something's happening man someone is leaving for maybe the last time that this you know this person might not ever see this person again. And this is all happening on a bright, sunny morning, you know? Oh, dude.

Yeah, it's, it gets me every time, man. I love this song and I love Robin Pecknold and I love, dude, I only say this about a handful of people, um, on this earth, dude. I am just grateful that I am, you know, that I am walking. this earth with Robin Peknell, dude, you know? Yeah, I'm with you. I think Robin Peknold is somebody who's going to be making music for a very long time with or without Fleet Foxes, you know?

With, yeah, absolutely. But yeah, here's the thing. I think one of the reasons I was drawn to Fleet Foxes, I think the first, the first song of theirs that I heard, I think it was, it was probably, hold on. Mekanos. Yeah, it was, it was Mekinos. I think you're on the Sun Giant EP.

Right. It was Mekino's. And, you know, it's one of those songs that you just don't hear many songs, at least back in 2011 or I guess 2006, 2007, probably when that came out. Yeah, that was a long time ago, man. There just weren't many bands that made music that sounded like that. And I was just thrilled to be hearing new music that sounded like the stuff that came out in the 60s because I've always. always felt that, you know, the 60s had songs like this that just had these textures and these emotions and whatnot that you just don't hear anymore. And so, like, I think that's

one of the reasons I'm drawn to Fleet Fox. Yeah, so we got to wrap this up, man. This is going to be a long one. That is our take on Flew Fox's second studio album, Helplessness Blues. One of my favorite bands of all time. I hope we were able to get across the reasons why we love this band so much. Yeah, I think the songs we shared with the music. The clips that we played, I think, certainly illustrate just how incredible this album is. There's a lot of songs on here that are much more lighthearted, too. You know, I think we play more of the serious songs.

Yeah. Well, you know, so the intro clip was the title track. The title track. Helplessness Blues. And that's a little bit more upbeat. Same with Lorelei, which is a song that I read some lyrics from, but we didn't share it.

And same with Battery Kinsey. Yeah, so anyways. Yeah, there's some upbeat songs on this album, but we wanted to focus on the more complex. Complex and like serious and existential songs. Yeah. Because that's what we love about Reverend Pechnell and the lyrics that he comes up with.

and the way that he, you know, owns up to, you know, being a millennial, you know, who's got a message to share. And knowing that as a millennial, he knows that we can relate to these, like, self-reflective lyrics. I think it's, you know, it's not as if we're the first generation to be self-reflective. Of course not. Of course not. Uh, but anyways, that, like, that was, that was something that he, uh, kind of owned up to, you know, and like in a lot of interviews around this time. Um, so, yeah, that's, that's going to do it for us today. Uh, so our outro, uh, for this, for this episode is going to be on an album by Van Morrison.

You know, the guy that's saying brown-eyed girl. Uh, this is his second studio album. So this is in early days bro i would think this came up before brownhead girl um and this is a song i'm sorry this is an album that robin pecknell loves and he holds dear you know i it's he probably puts up up in his top ten easily um but he was uh listening to this album a lot and dude and dude listening to this album it made me realize that i need to fucking listen to some van morrison dude um good god this is a beautiful album I'm not going to get into it that much because honestly I don't know that much about it. Again, this is from Van Morrison.

This is his second studio album. It's called Astral Weeks. It came out in 1968. I'm going to play track three from the album. It's called Sweet Thing. Right off the bat, dude, just listening to his guitar stylings, the stringed instruments that pop up in this song. even the lyrics too

like you can see where Robin found influence in this album so that's going to do it for us as always real quick you can always find more information

on our website no filler podcast.com there you can stream our episodes you can you can listen to us on SoundCloud and on iTunes as well check out our show notes on our website you can find a little bit more about about the artists

and the music that we cover on there and that's going to do it for us check back next week for our sidetrack episode for this album and this artist and my name is quentin i've got my brother Travis with me as always my name is Travis my name is Quentin See y'all. Well, next time.