Indie folk band Fleet Foxes have announced the release of a new album, ‘Crack-Up‘, as well as teasing us with a sample of what’s to come with the nine-minute track ‘Third of May / Ōdaigahara‘. It’s been six years since we’ve last heard new music from Fleet Foxes, with 2011’s Grammy-nominated album ‘Helplessness Blues‘ which was released on the third of May. The third of May also being the birthday of guitarist Skyler Skjelset, who’s the main focus of their new track, it’s an important date for the band. The album was produced by Skjelset and frontman Robin Pecknold with recording taking place in various studios across the US between July of last year and January 2017. ‘Crack-Up‘’s title was partially inspired by a F. Scott Fitzgerald essay of the same name. “Third of May / Ōdaigahara” is said to be on how the frontman and guitarist’s relationship has withstood the success achieved by their band. Pecknold stated in an interview with Pitchfork: “It addresses our distance in the years after touring that album, the feeling of having an unresolved, unrequited relationship that is lingering psychologically. Even if some time apart was necessary and progressive for both of us as individuals, I missed our connection, especially the one we had when we were teenagers, and the lyrics for the song grew out of that feeling.” With such lyrics as ‘aren’t we made to be crowded together, like leaves?’ – this particular lyric being inspired by the Francisco Goya painting “The Third Of May 1801” – and ‘can I be light and free / if I lead you through the fury will you call to me?’ fans are sure to applaud this return. Fleet Foxes are scheduled to play the Latitude Festival in Suffolk, England on Sunday July 16th, along with a string of dates in the US with Animal Collective and Beach House.
‘Crack-Up‘ will be released via Nonesuch on June 16th.
Sarah Medeiros