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Podcasts The Frame
After a long hiatus for Fleet Foxes, Robin Pecknold revives the band with a new album
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The Frame Tile
Jun 15, 2017
Listen • 4:57
After a long hiatus for Fleet Foxes, Robin Pecknold revives the band with a new album
It's been six years since the band's last album, and the drummer left to launch a solo career as Father John Misty, but Pecknold says there was still new sounds to explore.
Fleet Foxes have a new record inspired by singer Robin Pecknold's (center) time away from music.
Fleet Foxes have a new record inspired by singer Robin Pecknold's (center) time away from music.
(
Aja Pecknold
)

It's been six years since the band's last album, and the drummer left to launch a solo career as Father John Misty, but Pecknold says there was still new sounds to explore.

Fans of Fleet Foxes will be glad to hear the band is making music again.

The psych-folk band hasn’t released an album since 2011. Robin Pecknold, the band’s principal singer and songwriter, had taken time off to pursue other interests and to gather inspiration:



I had been really focused on only music from [the ages of] 15-to-26 and I wanted to take the opportunity while I was still sort of young to explore other things.

With the new album, “Crack Up,” it seems Pecknold found what he was looking for. The album is packed with references to history and classic literature and pulls musical ideas from a wide range of genres and eras.

Since its hiatus, Fleet Foxes' former drummer Josh Tillman launched a successful solo career as Father John Misty. But Pecknold says he had a reason to revive Fleet Foxes instead of starting his own career as a solo artist:



I wanted to pick up where we left off with Fleet Foxes because I just felt like there was unfinished business, and I didn't want it to be this thing that had happened and was abandoned. Part of the goal with this album was to expand the boundaries of what the band can do ... it's sort of like a road that has now led to the music we're going to work on next.