Crack-Up announces the rebirth of the Fleet Foxes

It’s official: ‘Crack-Up’, the third album of the Fleet Foxes, will be released after six years of absence, through the Nonesuch label. As a preview, Fleet Foxes launches ‘Third of May / Odaigahara’, the first title of nine minutes, at first very familiar with the group’s universe before unveiling a much more psychedelic facet of its upcoming record.

The Fleet Foxes present on social media

For some weeks, the rebirth of the group from Seattle was anticipated, according to the recent publications of the singer Robin Pecknold on his Instagram account. The Americans also updated their Facebook fan page by publishing a mysterious historical photograph of the eruption of Mount Tokachi on the island of Hokkaido in Japan, dated 1962 and signed Hiroshi Hamaya.

What happened during the past six years?

Some false starts. Between 2011 and 2013, singer and composer Robin Pecknold released some solo materials. But the band does not announce a sequel to “Fleet Foxes” and “Helplessness Blues”, their first two albums. In 2014, after a wet firecracker teaser, Robin Pecknold announced that he was going to study at Columbia University. While continuing the music … And it is in March 2017 that we hear the first notes of this third album, “Crack-Up”.

Crack-Up features eleven titles

All the eleven songs are composed by Robin Pecknold and co-produced by Pecknold and Skyler Skjelset, his childhood friend and band member for many years. “Crack-Up” was recorded throughout the United States between July 2016 and January 2017, including Electric Lady Studios, Sear Sound, The Void, Rare Book Room, Avast, and The Unknown. Phil Ek mixed the album with Sear Sound and Greg Calbi mastered it at Sterling Sound.

The title is inspired by a short story by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, whose short texts appeared in Esquire magazine. “Crack-Up”, is also the title of the collection and the main news that inspired Robin Pecknold. This is news about the ambiguity of the relationship to self, where the writer manages to write about his inability to write. It is a superposition of feelings, sometimes contrary, confused. Like Fleet Foxes.

A show set in Toronto on August 4

The announcement of the release of this album preceded a first concert which took place in May at the Opera House Concert Hall in Sydney. Fleet Foxes also took the opportunity to announce a series of dates for their European and North American tour. The band will be performing in Toronto on August 4th.

What’s next for Robin Pecknold?

In an interview with Pitchfork, Robin Pecknold emphasizes that he is still writing songs for the Fleet Foxes but does not deny that he also has some plans for a solo album which he said has “a different character, different stakes”. But Fleet Foxes’ album will be fully rapturous. “I feel like Crack-Up starts in pure conflicted loneliness and finishes in a brilliant clearing, one of intimacy, like the top right hand of the picture on the album cover. I would love to see that the next album of the band is like a festivity of or an amplification on how Crack-Up ends” he told.

h/t: Pitchfork