“The main goal was to make something bright and comforting.”
Fleet Foxes are here to calm the waters.
Ahead, Pecknold does a track-by-track breakdown ofShore, its featured guests, and its varied inspirations.
Credit: Shervin Lainez
“That’s where it turns into whatever shape it’s going to take,” he says.
“There’s a weird background mental process and that’s where this came from.
“It felt like the right way to initiate the album.”
That was a big focus of mine, helping them stay alive through these memories.
But according to Pecknold, it was also the hardest one to finish.
Pecknold then enlisted a massive group of fans for help.
“The backing vocals are actually like 400 Instagram followers that sent in harmonies,” he says.
Beatriz Artola was the engineer and she had that task.
It was super inspiring working on that one.”
“Featherweight”
Pecknold found inspiration for the lyrics of this airy, reflective song during quarantine.
“It has this slight, easy stroll or strut to it.
“Amplifying it like a full song made it a little too sappy,” he says.
It’s like a hymn with classic melodic chord structure with a really simple drum throughout.”
Pecknold also notes how the song’s low-key approach reminded him of taking solo backpacking trips.
“Not have ties to society, not have a mirror to look in.
I wanted to look back on that kind of memory and maybe put someone else in that position.”
But it proved difficult to finish.
“But the version we ended up with, I don’t feel that as much.”
For the lyrics, he wanted to lean into a feeling of hope.
Maybe we’re going to be entering this era where that’s no longer the case.
That’s the optimistic hope of the song."
“Lyrically it’s about leaving some of your old hang ups or insecurities or delusions behind….
But he had trouble finding lyrics that made sense for that register.
Once he started singing in a more suitable key, “comforting lyrics came out.”
That’s how “Quite Air / Gioia” was born.
I sent it to my dad and he was like, ‘Great bass playing on Gioia.
That’s my favorite one.'”
“I actually made the song a minute-and-a-half longer to make room for it.
It had these great, lucky contributions from people that made that song what it was.”
It reminds you as you’re driving along that music is always with you.
It’s expressing some gratitude towards music for being everywhere and being with me."
“There’s all kinds of horns and pianos and strings and guitars, all different rhythms interacting.
“Shore”
The final (and title) track carries a lot of meaning for Peckhnold.
He considers it the album’s epilogue.
