I would put Third of May / Ōdaigahara right up there with any of the Beach Boys or Beatles epic orchestral songs. When I heard it for the first time on KEXP a couple months ago, I nearly sank to my knees in praise. They are a mighty, mighty band.

Right there with ya. I hate that happy-clappy junk they get lumped in with; Fleet Foxes is something so much richer.

Hmm, I can't say I've experienced much shit-talking of FF. Ever. Quite the opposite, in fact. I mean, they never really were a men-in-suspenders band. Just kind of their own thang.

Great read.

Also, an important read coming from The Stranger.

I remember seeing the cover of The Stranger when Helpless Blues came out. I think it was "We had real foxes listen to Fleet Foxes" or something to that effect. Whoever wrote it must have hit their vape pen, went to woodland park zoo and played the album for the captive creatures. I mean it's funny, but it's pretty much a buzzfeed article.

I think the press treatment from the Seattle media kind of made the band feel weird. I also remember seeing Robin go on a twitter rant over that cover, and then subsequently deleting his twitter account. I mean shit, maybe he didn't delete it because of that sequence of events, but I think people unfairly gave them shit and compared them to Head and the Heart and god damn Mumford & bros..

But, I think you're right, you could write a dissertation on the 'band of horses but bad' line. It's a psychological mishap. But I say screw the haters -- we have the Fleet.

I can't take Fleet Foxes pretentious, and yes—boring—brand of twee folk-Americana... enough of the bland beardos!