Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes: This turned out to be a pretty great album. It took me four or five songs before I really got into it, but once it picked up it picked up quite well. Definitely a very folksy album, just not really in the way I was expecting. Regardless, the lead singer is an amazing vocalist and some of the best songs were the ones that allowed him to showcase his talents, but I found that the darker the songs got the better they got. My favourite track is, without question, “He Doesn’t Know Why”, which I just fell in love with on first listen. The two runners-up would be “Quiet Houses” and “Heard Them Stirring”, the latter of which has no actual lyrics and shows how dark and gorgeous their instrumentals can be.
All-in-all a great album.
Pink Floyd - Animals: Yes. This is much, much more what I was hoping for from Pink Floyd. I am happy to say that I quite loved this album, its concept, its execution and everything. While it was a little ham-fisted, I felt that worked really well for the album. It didn’t really need subtlety because of how forthright the anger and overall reprehension and exhaustion with society was. I thought that it worked brilliantly. And, as much as it seems like it shouldn’t work, I love the whole story being sandwiched between two short love songs that are affected by the whole narrative. My favourites are still the triptych of animal tracks in the middle, particularly “Pigs (Three Different Ones)”, though not by a whole lot. Assuming this is just a step up from Dark Side’s weirdness and the others on the list will be more out-there, I’m kind of excited. :]
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow: This was way, way different than I was expecting. I expected some generic indie pop stuff. Instead I got wonderfully complex and weird music, varying from gorgeous slow songs to incredibly fast-paced rapid-fire lyrics. Some of the songs’ lyrics are hard to quantify, but most of them feel heavy and kinda resonate, while some are more straightforward. One thing that these guys have going for them is that they’re quite verbose and it’s great; I learned a few new words from them, which is a first for music, I think… But yeah, my two favourite tracks, “Fighting in a Sack” and “Pink Bullets”, are basically opposites. The former is incredibly upbeat and fast and weird, the latter is slower and more charmingly pretty. Really, any track here is a stand-out, but those two stand above the stand-outs in my eyes. Really, just an awesome album and I recommend it. :]