At least we’re taking baby steps away from the whole ‘wolf’ band thing — Seattle’s Fleet Foxes

It could be argued that music is at its most potent when a song or an album not only gets into your head, but bonds itself to a particular time or place — when it becomes the soundtrack to your life. The imprint that music makes upon our existence can be so defined that it feels like our own, and we may be inclined, when hearing that special song, to feel as close to it as our own memories.

The music of Fleet Foxes, while no less cathartic, is quite the opposite. It is its own soundtrack — one so poignant that the events and emotions that inspired it feel almost as close as our own. The warm tones, multi-part harmonies and the inquisitive, reflective lyrics give the impression of travelling through a wood not entirely unfamiliar, but with enough mystery to keep one endlessly wondering what is beyond the path.

Raised by parents whose sensibilities lay somewhere between hippies and whatever hippies became when the message died, Fleet Foxes lead singer Robin Pecknold never felt the adolescent urge to rebel “for rebellion’s sake.” His respect for his parents and his close relationship with his two older siblings helped foster the sense of openness and deep emotional understanding that the 21-year-old now displays in his music.

“My brother is five years older than me, and my sister is seven years older than me, so they were definitely more in the know than I was, when I was growing up,” Pecknold says. “When I was like eight or nine I could listen to stuff that my brother had bought or my sister had brought. I was young, but from them, at that age, even hearing about Nirvana and everything going on in Seattle in the early ’90s — they’ve been hugely formative.”

Emerging as a full band in 2006, Fleet Foxes spent much of the last two years accumulating fans in and around Seattle with their infrequent but astonishingly polished live shows. The first few months of 2008 have been significantly more intense for the quintet, with their Sun Giant EP getting a “best new music” tag by Pitchfork, and virtually every music blog on the Internet waxing hyperbolic about the band’s ’70s-rock-influenced sound, and building anticipation for their self-titled full-length release on June 3.

With so many artists being ingested at the Internet’s lightning-quick pace and discarded just as quickly, many buzzed-about bands shield their eyes from the hype and focus on the road ahead. Pecknold’s point of view is one of openness and honesty, where ignoring the hype not only isn’t an option, it would be foolish.

“Playing music is engaging in a conversation with music listeners and other musicians, in a way,” he says. “I don’t know what kind of conversation it is if you’re just putting it out there and not listening to what people say about it. I think it’s good to know what people think of you. It’s constructive.”

Every year, dozens of bands end up touted as the bands of that year. Fleet Foxes, though, seem the most appropriate candidate for top spot, not because they’ve received the Pitchfork seal of approval, or the common (and completely lazy) comparisons drawn to bands like Band of Horses or My Morning Jacket. There is a sense of sincerity around Pecknold and his bandmates that doesn’t seem added on or intended. Their channelling of the classic rock and folk bands that Pecknold grew up with and feels closest to, and their perfect transmission of moments in time, exquisite in their completeness, make them not only one of the most memorable bands of the year, but project their skill far into the future, a sensation that Pecknold unwittingly predicts.

“Music is just this endless journey with no destination,” he says. “There’s never the perfect song, there’s never the perfect record. It’s built into it that you can never get to the end. It makes music still relevant.”