No Filler Music Podcast - No Filler Rewind - Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues

Episode Date: November 22, 2025

As we round out our stint of Autumn-forward Rewinds, we're revisiting an episode from 2018 in the early days of the podcast to once again gush and fawn over Robin Pecknold's lyrics and song composition on 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. This show is part of the Pantheon Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to No Filler. Quentin here. Got Travis with me as well, and we're just going to tease up this Rewind episode. We've been doing nothing but Rewinds for the month of November, just picking albums and artists that just give us fall. autumn vibes, you know. We could have put, well, we could have put two out per week.

And we would have had enough. Easily. It was hard to, yeah, hard to pick. Because really, we just two is what we've done so far. And then the only reason we're doing Fleet Foxes is because we want to, you know, we want to get you warmed up for our new episode that drops next week on their self-title. But yeah, this week we're doing helplessness blues. 2018 is when we dropped this episode.

That was a long time ago, dude. You said 2018? 2018. That was like right when we started this thing. Okay, so that was the first. It was back when we were still numbering the episodes. Episode 18 was selflessness blues. There you go.

Yeah, so anyway, last week was the Sundays, which, man, I listened to some of that record again. And I was wrong about them, Q. I was wrong. Such a killer album. I mean, we titled it, perfectly. The name of the episode is warm blanket. That's what it is, dude. It's a warm freaking blanket. And that's kind of what, to me, the fall season, this is the kind of music I want to listen to. Like, I just, you know, I just want to be cozy in the fall. Oh, for sure,

dude. There's something about folk music that does that. And Fleet Fox is, is one of the best indie folk pop bands of all time. He can't argue with that. Hands down. And this record, and I remember this episode was really great because we talked about it was really good we yeah we drove into the lyrics yeah and this is this is i think uh i think we talked about it well we talk about it next week so we've already recorded next week's episode peek behind the current and i think we talk about some of those lyrics um yeah and you're about to hear us talk about it even more because uh we we dive into it pretty deep here uh in this episode uh so anyway now you're gonna hear you're gonna hear us from seven years ago

Test is going to be fun. Yeah. Yeah. Went back when our microphones perhaps weren't the best. We'll see. But that means you're also going to get a bonus, what you heard. That's right. Because I think that's my thing.

Well, potentially, I don't know if we were doing what you heard yet, dude. This might have been early enough to where we weren't even doing what you heard. We'll find out. Yeah, who knows? So we'll find out. So anyway, next week you'll get a brand new episode where we'll talk about Fleet Fox's record that came out before this one. We're kind of going backwards here. And then we will kick off December with our best of 2025 episodes.

We've already got the first one. In the bag. Recorded in the bag. So, yeah, that's how we're going to close out the year. So, yeah, you're getting a bunch of episodes to close out the year. A lot of them are rewinds, but something tells me that most of you probably haven't been listening for... Since 2018. No way.

No way, dude. So, hopefully this is... If you have been listening to No filler, For that long, please reach out to us on Instagram. We'd love to hear from you. And Mitchell doesn't count. I mean, we know he's been listening. But, yeah, that's a good call.

Can you reach out to us on Instagram if you've been, if you've been with us for that long. Since basically the beginning? I would like to shake your hand virtually. Episode 18, dude. Yeah, reach out to us. We'd love to hear from you. So that's it. That's it.

I hope you enjoy it. Yep, we're going back to 2018 for this episode where we covered Fleet Fox's Helplessness Blues. I was raised 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 rather be a functioning A functioning cog in some great machinery's hurting something beyond me But I don't, I don't know what that will be I'll get back to you someday soon 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 foxes 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 Q what did you think of my my solo episode that I was That I had to release Man you're just looking for me To pat you on the back You saved us dude

You saved us 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 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 Heard's 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 heard. Okay, this is what I've been heard. What you've heard, dude? 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, 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, 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 that in just a second. Anyway, here we go. This is called Bum, Bum, Bum by Cass McCombs. The White the farm still breathed, she's all for these to their flesh and teach.

Bump, boom, bong. You think you've heard it all before, but it's once more, we're all at war. But in the streets of eternal river, I know the killer, he counts myself. They're ambushed them behind the reefs These are rocksies where don't still breathe They say bye They say by when there's blood in the streets, Even if the blood is your own.

So they implode and far away To turn against their home Centuries and the distant memories But it's not the dream No, but ain't no dream, it's all too. Delightful. Yeah. Yeah, so I think I was drawn to him immediately for his lyrics.

You know, 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 phrasing things and whatnot. Oh, yeah, dude. That's, man, that ties in really well. Exactly. With Robin Peknold and Fleetfox's. 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 McCombs? Cass McCombs, 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 or the 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. Plintel. I mean, clientele has got that thick English accent. Right.

What 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. Yeah, listen to the bands. He's performed with or toward with. Aerial 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, Yeah, you may have seen this guy. Cass McCombs live. Yeah, you may, if you saw any of those bands that I mentioned back in the early O's, you may have seen Cass McCombs 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 record collector's life, Q. I know, dude.

Seriously, like, I did not think. Especially when you stumble upon it in the wild, you know, you're just like, whoa. Yeah, there it is. Exactly. Yeah. So, you know, so I've been going back and listening to. 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 tie in really well with Fleet Foxes. And that and his guitar stock. 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 uh 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. By the eyes of the very young, it's a sudden good attack On our weakness, my oise and I carry anger forth and back

But we'll make it some out You've all what's mine And you're leading me now on the gallop to mother's fear we will lose our breath and fire and you'll give me the look of thorns we give liars every night but i get you somehow leave the rain since because you're leading me now I was really digging that

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 a home recording, like a DIY. It's just him and his, in his guitar, you know? Yeah. I just love him. And that's fine, dude.

You don't have to enjoy his music. Yeah, we know all about disagreements on. voices from our Sabbath episode so that's fine yeah just wait man we got a few episodes that we're planning on and doing in the next the next couple months that we're really going to be we're really going to 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 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 um we got a lot to cover today

so let's talk about fleet foxes a little bit um i don't know so i don't know where to start i don't know if we want to really like dive into their history that much but if you don't know fleet foxes this is a band um lead frontman singer songwriter his name's robert 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.

Indy folk, Americana, Baroque Pop, Folk, Rock. Baroque Pop, I like. Because. Yeah. Pecknold, I don't. really know his background as far as like his musical like his education you know but i feel like i don't know the word baroque just makes you think like like him i mean classical right um 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 to it it you know it seems like he's very humble like when you when you listen to him in interviews and um 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 uh this group of musicians that they had that was touring with them and uh he kind of introduced them like halfway through the set after they had been playing a few songs with them and he said um you know he's like let's give it up for these guys you know the 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. Yeah, the fact that he doesn't consider himself a real musician is almost laughable, you know. Right. Because he writes, 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? And that's that's why you connect.

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. with him, Robin Peknell, do you know what I mean? Yeah, so let me, 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 saying that helplessness blues, 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. 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 their, their, their, 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, like, when did Mumford? and son's 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, for that kind of music. Yeah, that's probably why Philippe Foxes saw the huge success that they did because we were just, 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 in the earlier 2000s like 2003 2004 that was when that quiet as a new loud type movement was happening with right with uh with the quieter you know acoustic type songs and so like peter bjorn and john and yeah and uh man what are they called um bell and sebastian and all them yeah 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 please 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 um it is so flea foxes have released three albums in the last decade um it takes them a while to to come up

to release albums, partly because Robin Peknold 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 they just came out with an album, what was it last year? Yes. Crack up?

Crack up, yeah. Yeah, and that's great. rowing on me and it's you know it's it's it's really hard to pick but there's just something about helplessness blues um it's it's just something about it dude i it's still my favorite uh fleet foxes released to date and it's mainly because of the lyrics um so let's start with 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 So now I am older, than my mother and father, when they have their daughter, now what does that say about me?

Oh, how could I dream of such a selfless and true love? Or could I wash my hands up just looking out for me? Oh, man, what I used to be, oh man, oh my own me. Oh, man that I used to do, oh man, oh my own. In dirt or in excess, both the slave and the embrace will return to the dirt, I guess, naked as we'll return to the dirt, I guess, naked as we make it. I wonder if I'll see Any faces above me Or just cracks in the ceiling

Nobody else to blame Oh man what I used to Oh man oh my Oh man, what I used to, oh man, oh man, oh my. Gold teeth and gold jewelry Every piece of your dowry Throw them into the tune with me Buried them with my name

Someday Man, my wandering mind away Oh, man, what I used to be. Montes in my children to believe. Oh, man, oh my children, and my children to believe. Oh, man, oh my. 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. like yeah um you know you know it's the same thing that probably a lot of people in our generation especially uh have that have that uh thought in their head especially when when you consider that a lot of people in our age group are waiting much later to have children right yeah for for one reason or another you know i mean it's just yeah for 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 no like um 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 like yeah but yeah i feel like the i feel like the word the word folk gets kind of tossed around anytime you hear an acoustic guitar you know what i mean yeah but i but um i i agree that that's what you call them i just you know they are more more than just a folk band, you know what I mean? Yeah.

I don't know. But hey, let's, 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 196. 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, 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. It's, it's basically Robin Peknold, 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 early to mid 20s it's almost like he's thinking he's reflecting on his life as though is 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 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 um before we jump to the next one so um what track is this track uh eight on the album is it's called laurale i we're not we're not playing this song today but i i love uh the lyrics uh the first 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 I just love that song yeah I love those lyrics I'm 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 what I like about him is that he doesn't shy away from putting those emotions down on paper and then turning them into songs. 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. 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 yeah like like he's saying it's not about like a huge growth like a move

that they're trying to start like it was in the 60s. Hey, so we've got to dive. We've 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 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 Peknold 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 um 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 he said so he basically he's saying there's some songs on the first record that he just can't stomach listening to anymore he thinks that there it was too um 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 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 with with with the music and you know i can relate too you know if i look at if i look at something that i that i coded you know five 10 years ago it's like jesus christ what happened you know yeah yeah it's just i think that's the artist um coming out you know plenty of people if you're a creative person and you and you and you create things and you know whether it be like you know art traditional art or whatever it's like you you're never really satisfied with 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 yeah if he's if he's saying that the stuff that they wrote on helplessness blues was less poppy. The stuff that they wrote on Crackup, 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 really do need to listen to all the way through

to even understand, like to even appreciate. And that's not the same with Helplessness Blues. Yeah, dude, that's just Robin Peknold as a musician, you know, like, maturing as a musician so let's listen to track three which is our next clip it's 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 that happens halfway through the song um 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.

of the collie neath the table ran out the door through the dark carved out his initials in the bar then the earth should that was all that it took for the dream to pray all the loose ends

What surround me again in the shape of your face? What makes me love you despite the reservations? What do I see in your eyes? Besides my reflection, hanging high. Are you off somewhere a sudden incantations? So, yeah, that has one of those moments 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 that gives me chills

like straight up chills I agree 100% and that's 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 pull that off you know what I mean

you have to know what you're doing and you have to know how to structure a song and compose a song and you know use your your vocals and like levels and all that kind of stuff because in you know in this first clip that we played when 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 um give a shout out to so one of the members of the band and 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 first EP, which is like the early years.

I think it was, I mean, it's a self-title, but 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 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've seen flea foxes live because there's a few members credited for playing mandolin but this is the guy that that busts out the mandolin and plays it and he's I'm sure he's the one that played the mandolin in this track

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

great thing about a Fleetpox's track is that a lot of times it's got 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. Thank you. Yes, sir.

And that's how the song ends, too. It just kind of fades out. Pretty much. Yeah. And it just leaves right into the next track. God, it's so good, dude. I mean, you can't not, like, stomp your feet and just, like, sway back and, you know, like. Yeah, yeah, it definitely, uh, oh, yeah.

Yeah, it's so good. Yeah, it's, it's good. And, and, you know, I think this might go without saying, too, but, like, this is one of those albums that you, 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 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, you know, 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. Like, 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, you know, and approach it as like an entire. piece, 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, 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, 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 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 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 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 that, dude, 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 they're 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 other bands that we've covered on this podcast so far it's work a listen all the way through and it's worth really dedicating an evening to you know or a jog through the park or something you know throw it some earbuds on and just push play at track one and just and just zone out and listen to the album all the way through um yeah 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 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, uh, I threw in an extra song, um, 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 planes slash bitter dancer so this is the first time that 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 how it happens um but he's got two songs that he throws on one track but i feel like they are two songs but he puts them together um you know these yeah i think the the ideas are or are supposed to be kind of joined you know i mean it's yeah i'm not sure how it's like a it's a movement it's a it's a movement you know yeah so this song there's so 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 the way that these two ideas combine into one song. It's just, I mean, just when you're listening to it, it just gets you, man. This is one of those moments that just kind of get your hair standing up. Yeah, yeah. So, again, this is track five.

it is The Plains slash Bitter Dancer I don't know. I'm going to be able to be. I'm going to go. I'm going to be able to be. We're going to be. Wow.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Thank you. You know, Oh, Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Just as the sand made everything round, just as the sand made everything round, seaps up from the ground bitter dancer ever turning so was the day that you came to time I just, man, I just love the way that, that those two ideas converge or whatever. I don't know how to say. Yeah, I mean, it's the same for a lot of their songs. I mean, the way 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 guys i mean he's a poet you know he's poetic he knows how to use imagery in his in his lyrics uh and you know i think there's

there seems to be a theme too with with his lyrics of uh nature you know and uh earth you know like earthiness and yeah a lot of times he'll uh 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, thousand-plus-year-old processes, you know, like, he's talking about, um... Tar sleeping up from the ground. Yeah, tar's sleeping 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. And but yeah, like... He's 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 Pecknell'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 an 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 that is that when you listen to or when you, you know, when you look at 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. 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 Haldern 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 Flea 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 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 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 um the horn like uh there's a horn that's just going haywire right it's not musical at all um 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.

I've got two clips. One of them's going to be, as you hear it on the album, the 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 and I wonder what became of them What became of them

Sunlight over me No matter what I do Apples in the summer are cold and sweet Every day I'm passing complete So, I'm not one, I'm not one to ever pray for mercy or to wish on. So, dude, again, like, when I first heard this song and I heard him just fucking, belt that line um what does he say sunlight over me no matter what i do right yeah dude but then what's what's great about it is he's he is screaming literally he's screaming that line and then

the very next line is is is the rest of the band apples in the summer all cold and sweet every day I don't even 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 like he just like belts out

I mean he doesn't hold back another thing that we didn't even really get into because we because we have so many clips to share with it all the day I didn't really get into the backstory behind this the recording of this album and all that

but But 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 um so their their producer just kind of went along with that for a little bit but basically he he scrapped that idea

um pretty early on like you know that's just it's not going to work that way um 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 and the way that he just screams that line you know like you can hear his voice uh kind of crack in in a you know like if you continue to listen to the song after refated it out um 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 um harmonies and really pretty sounding soft and pretty harmonies yeah and even the lyrics dude apples in the summer all golden sweet you know right um let's let's go

ahead and play clip two again this is going to be uh the second part of the first half of this song but this is going to be the live uh clip from uh a music festival in germany same year that this album came out so this is them fresh off releasing this album this is them torn 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 Thank you.

In the morning, waking up to terrible sunlight, all the few stocks in abuse, the sun is half inside. We can talk you highly even look in my eyes. In the morning, in the morning In the morning In the doorway In the doorway 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 In the morning in the ocean washing off my name from your throat in the morning in the morning when the tide came in the eyes would never let you stay in the night time is the light on day In the ocean leaving me no time to open

In the morning, in the morning In the ocean, washing off my name from your throat In the morning, in the morning yeah that 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 uh especially when you hear it live but i mean it comes across that way on on the actual track too i mean you can really hear um the emotion coming from from his deliver of those lines you know like his his voice almost cracks a little bit with emotion yep uh and

really that it evokes emotion when you hear it man i mean i always get dude i mean look like right now just thinking back to the song in my mind yeah i'm getting chills right it's that it's such a powerful moment i mean and again it's like there might be some people out there that that that that are listening to us say this and they're like what 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

waking up to 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 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 probably, hold on. Mekinos was the first one I heard. It was Mekanos, and I think... Which is on the Sun Giant EP. Right, it was Mekinos.

Yeah. 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 20, 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 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 Fleet 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, 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. 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 Revin Pecknell

and the lyrics that, 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 um lyrics um i think it's yeah man it's not as if we're the first generation to be self-reflective Of course not. Of course not. But anyways, that was something that he kind of owned up to, you know,

and like in a lot of interviews around this time. So, yeah, that's going to do it for us today. So our outro for this episode is going to be on an album by Van Morrison. You know, the guy that's saying Brown-Aid girl. this is his second studio album so this is in the early days bro i would think this came up before browned girl um and this is a song i'm sorry this is an album that robin pecknell loves and he holds dear you know he probably puts this up up in his top ten easily um but he was uh listening to this album a lot and dude listening to this album it made me realize that i need to fucking listen

into some Van Morrison, dude. 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, you know, 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-fillerpodcast.com.

There you can stream our episodes. 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 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 Next time And I was drunk the merry way and jump the hedges first And I will drink the clear green water fall to quench my thirst And I shall watch the ferry boats in there get high

On the blue ocean against tomorrow's sky And I will never grow so old a game Talking, talking gardens all wetter frame. Oh, oh, sweet band, sweet thing. Yeah. Sweet thing. I shall I shall drive my friend

I don't know I'll drive my chariot down your streets and cry Oh It's beyond that I'm madame And I don't know why strongly and you're on the game and I wonder

I remember that I ever felt the pain we shall walk and talking garden so misty wet a misty wet with rain down and I was there was a wonder but never was a holy Hey, everyone, Brian Slaigel here, founder of Metal Blade Records.

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