By Jason Landry

The Fleet Foxes self-titled album was released in 2008 by Sub Pop. Inspired early on by such artists as Bob Dylan and Neil Young, this contemporary folk band from Seattle created a unique sound. Their music gave me the sense that each song was like a chapter in a stage play—while some felt like poems. Most specifically the track White Winter Hymnal reminded me of something I might have read by Robert Frost. The song consists of the same verse repeated three times:

I was following the pack

All swallowed in their coats

With scarves of red tied ’round their throats

To keep their little heads

From fallin’ in the snow

And I turned ’round and there you go

And, Michael, you would fall

And turn the white snow red as strawberries

In the summertime

Have you ever taken the time to analyze the cover art? The scene is taken from a painting from the 1500’s. Strange and somewhat awkward vignettes are happening throughout this Flemish masterpiece, and not everything is as it seems. The gatefold vinyl album also comes with a copy of their EP Sun Giant.