Fleet Foxes , on the back of their hugely successful eponymous debut release, made a quick return to Los Angeles this week with a two night stint at The El Rey. Opening for them was Frank Fairfield, a one-man roots revival, mumbling in a southern accent over either banjo, guitar, or violin. I spent a few minutes wondering if he was autistic and it turned out that a number of people around me were having a similar conversation. I don't think he is, though. His music was such that I would only enjoy it if I was sitting on a front porch in backwoods Mississippi chewing on some sugar cane with me grandpappy. Later on I found out that Fairfield was from Los Angeles. I don't know the guy and I don't know his career so I'll refrain from questioning his authenticity and focus rather on the fact that his music was boring.

The Fleet Foxes themselves lived up to expectation. Despite a couple of minor qualms I had with the sound mixing, they managed to reproduce their layered sounds live. In particular, lead singer Robin Pecknold's voice is just lovely, propelled by the fact that the Foxes pull of 4-part vocal harmonies like CSNY wish they could. Guitarist Skye Skjelset's characteristic guitar tone manages to carry through at live shows, an aspect of the band that I feel is underrated and one of their main strengths (second only to their just-scruffy-enough beards).

The band, being a relatively young one with a limited amount of material, went through all the songs on the new album . They also played some old numbers (a couple which sounded suspiciously similar to current tracks) and were even cajoled by the crowd into playing a new song.

You could tell that the band members were enjoying themselves, partaking in a lot of between-song banter among themselves and with the crowd. If you were wondering which asshole yelled "play Machine Head by Bush," it was me. They're also still pretty stoked about getting famous - Pecknold, on a couple of occasions, commented along the lines of "Holy shit, this place is huge." I was surprised to see every member of the band hanging around outside the venue to chat with showgoers. I've never actually seen a band that excited to communicate with their fans. I'm intrigued to see if the future renders them jaded, doing lines in the back instead of mingling with people in the front.

The tour rolls on all around the rest of the country and then to Europe. Fleet Foxes deserve all the acclaim that they accrue. I've said it a number of times before, even on this website, that they have produced probably the prettiest album to receive widespread recognition since Joanna Newsom's Ys.

There is no other band that is as hyped up on this site and I don't put a hearty stamp of approval on many acts, so take my advice, listen to this band, your life will improve, however slightly, because of it.

Story by Jemayel Khawaja.

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