Fleet Foxes

With an eleven song self-titled album, a five song EP called Sun Giant and a self-described approach that is "traditional with instrumentation and unconventional with song structure and vocals," the Fleet Foxes have sprung out of the Northwest with spry gusto. They explain, "Few songs have lead vocals, most are fully harmonized… [The songs have] baroque pop elements and folk elements, though there are no Country or Americana elements." Their homemade sound brought me to the realization that there are people who sing and there are people who use their voice as an instrument. The Foxes are most definitely the latter.

Drawing from influences like The Trees, Judee Sill, Fairport Convention, Fleetwood Mac, hymns, The Beach Boys, and CSN, it seems the Fleet Foxes are onto something big. After a recent signing to Sub Pop Records and with a five song EP coming out in spring of 2008, the band takes off on a 43-stop tour of the states wrapping into mid-April. Label mates Blitzen Trapper begin the trek with them Feb. 28 at the Noise Pop festival in San Francisco. This includes a number of gigs scheduled during the South by Southwest festival mid-March in Austin, Texas.