Fleet Foxes’ ‘Shore,’ one of 2020’s best albums, is out on CD and vinyl

Without warning, acclaimed folk-rock group Fleet Foxes released their fourth album, “Shore,” on last year’s fall equinox. “Shore” made a critical splash from the start and ended up as one of 2020’s best albums.

This week marks the physical release of the album, which was originally slated for February. It is worth seizing the opportunity to consider this album once again, this time as a necessary addition to any vinyl or CD collection.

“Shore” succeeds 2017’s “Crack-Up,” which is at once its opposite and its twin. The covers of each album depict succinctly the relationship between their sounds: “Crack-Up” features an image of a rocky, ragged coastline and an ocean brimming with energy, where “Shore” shows a serene meeting of land and sea, calm waters and sandbars extending out to the horizon.

These images relate in much the same way as the albums’ sounds. Where on “Crack-Up,” singer-songwriter Robin Pecknold experiments with sonic complexity in a rough manner, and with immense energy, “Shore” is smooth and tempered. Unlike “Crack-Up,” “Shore” might be Fleet Foxes’ most listenable album yet.

In a certain sense, “Shore” returns to the quintessential folk of Fleet Foxes’ roots. Their first two albums, “Fleet Foxes” and “Helplessness Blues” – both released before Pecknold was halfway through his 20s – were enrapturing lyrically and sonically. Fleet Foxes were a dominantly warm-sounding folk group with distanced vocals and large acoustic guitars.

While “Shore” returns to this kind of warmth and simple listening, it retains the experimental complexity of “Crack-Up.” On occasion, Pecknold holds no blows and puts it on full display. In “Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman,” you even get to hear him count in the song, exposing the sheer rhythmic detail of that track.

But “Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman” is far from a standout in this regard. Listening back through the album, it’s clear that almost every track is similarly elaborate. “Jara” immerses the listener in a fast-flowing river of sound, a continuous flood of beats, basslines and riffs.

On one level, the songs are singular and clear and easy to listen to, but on another, they are awe-inspiringly complicated, if only one listens closely. That makes for a sort of artistic humility; the sound of “Shore” is full and expanded, but it never comes right up in your face to tell you about it.

There if you want it, unnoticeable if you do not. With that humility, Fleet Foxes have taken what was once some of the best folk rock around and made it even better – vastly better – without hailing their own genius.

Songs like “Sunblind” and “Can I Believe You” seem to saunter along with almost childish exuberance, playful and also serious, considered. There’s nothing worse than a great artist who takes themselves too seriously; Pecknold is at no risk of that here.

Among the tracks, there are more than a few standouts. “Sunblind,” the first full song, is a tribute to the passed-away icons of Pecknold’s musical life. “For Richard Swift / For John and Bill / For every gift lifted far before its will,” he sings in the opening lines. “Jara,” “It’s Not My Season,” “Shore” and “Can I Believe You” are a few more favorites.

Accompanying all its lively sound, its playfulness and glimmer, “Shore” has the lyrical beauty fans have come to expect from Fleet Foxes. It’s often concerned with how one coexists with death, drawing on a manner more accepting than fearful: “Though we’re only alive a short while / So many beneath my feet / All weather, you walk with me.”

Death is on Pecknold’s mind; it is weighing on him (even though he is only 34), but it does not slow him down until the last track, when his sound becomes heavy, building and rising out of a piano into a beautiful and bizarre choral surge.

“Afraid of the empty / But too safe on the shore,” Pecknold sings. “And ’fore I forget me / I want to record.” We sure are glad he did and hope he continues to. Fleet Foxes have always been able to deliver satisfying, great music. But “Shore” gives the impression that, more than ever, they have truly mastered their own sound.

Shop “Shore” at one of Spokane’s many brilliant record stores, and find it available online, as well.

Julien A. Luebbers can be reached at julienluebbers@gmail.com