Fleet Foxes are "done" with their second album – apart from mixing, mastering and all that finicky extra stuff. Although they have yet to reveal the release date, artwork or even the record's title, they promise everything is on its way "soon".
It's more than two years since Fleet Foxes freleased their acclaimed debut album. They were a surprise hit, particularly in the UK, where the album reached No 3 in the charts. The quintet toured heavily, harmonised, grew their beards out and tried to squeeze songwriting in between. Late last year, they began work on the follow-up, visiting a rented studio space every day. Frontman Robin Pecknold said he was brushing up on 12-string guitar and promised a more "mellow", even "boring", album.
Yet despite talk of a release in the "early second half" of 2010, Fleet Foxes have been quiet since February. In July, they joked that the LP might take the name of a certain engineering disaster, the Deepwater Horizon. But only now, with autumn winds blowing in, are their warming folk songs nearing completion. "We are flying to New York tomorrow to mix and master the album," Pecknold wrote on Facebook.
Meanwhile, Fleet Foxes members have remained busy. Pecknold has recorded several folk covers under the name White Antelope, as well as touring with Joanna Newsom. Drummer Josh Tillman has released three solo albums in the last two years. The latest, Singing Ax, came out earlier this month.
