Of all Fleet Foxes‘ collective works to date, none have impressed me as much and as thoroughly as “The Shrine / An Argument”. Off their latest LP, Helplessness Blues, the song is a medley of sorts, an elongated story with various movements. It’s downright exciting to see the song played out in an eight-minute video, created by front-man Robin Pecknold’s brother Sean. The song is epic in the truest of senses.

I entered the studio at about 9:35pm, meeting up with Stuarto, who has the time slot before mine. A quick interview about 15 minutes before my show, another few songs, and I was up. It was requested that I attempt a transition, and as indie music is my theme, and world music is his, I figured I’d kick things off with an oldie, but goodie: “The Gulag Orkestar” by Beirut.

Fleet Foxes new one is a bit different from their debut. The production is vastly different. Robin Pecknold’s vocals sound extremely different (not to mention the lyrics, which a friend equated to being similar to those found in his high school journal), having been honed and crafted whereas before they sounded a bit raw at times. But what remains the same is Fleet Foxes ability to create a great sounding song.

“Mykonos” was the most noteworthy song off Fleet Foxes‘ debut Sub Pop EP Sun Giant, and now they give it the single-worthy nod of recognition it deserved at the time by releasing it on 7-inch vinyl.

When I compiled my original Best Of 2008 list last December, it was a snow day. The sky dropped about a foot, maybe a foot and a half of fluffy white stuff and we lowly sub-compact drivers could go nowhere. Between ranking albums and locating album art, I took a stroll around town with my camera. The above image comes from that trek. Overall, I was pretty happy with last year’s list but, in revisiting all the albums from 2008, I now see quite a few …

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Oh I like this video. It’s a bit of a departure from Fleet Foxes’ first video, “White Winter Hymnal”, but it’s just as good. The video displays perfectly the group’s ability to construct multiple-part vocal harmonies, and emphasizes the band’s folk-rock sensibilities. If you’re new to Fleet Foxes, you’re in for a treat; if you’re an old hand at their music, you pretty much know what to expect. Either way, the video is worth it.