Helplessness Blues

Helplessness Blues

Helplessness Blues refutes any suggestions that Fleet Foxes are mere nostalgists. While the past looms large, the Seattle band’s searching frontman Robin Pecknold confronts the future head-on. Made during a break-up, Helplessness Blues dismantles success (“Montezuma”) and purpose (the title track), to a diverse soundtrack of raga (“Sim Sala Bim”), spiny psychedelia (“Bedouin Dress”), and ambitious Astral Weeks-inspired song-suites in “The Plains / Bitter Dancer” and “The Shrine / An Argument”.