August 31, 2009
Dear Fleet Foxes:
It’s recently occurred to us that the best thing you can do if you are looking to convince people that your records are staggeringly important works of fickle but illimitable genius is drop off the radar for a while in between releases. I mean, just look at Radiohead. In their heart-of-hearts, that band’s public totally knows that it takes them like two weeks to throw together one of their goofy little pop album trifles (and that roughly 70% of that time is dedicated to playing PS3, pawing through the studio’s compendium of takeout menus, and blaming pitchy vocal takes on a shortage of organic Throat Coat® tea), but we dutifully play along and hail Thom and Jonny and the bald one and those other guys as “true craftsmen.” Why? Because it takes them three to four years to put an album out. You guys like Radiohead, don’t you?
Yep. Three to four years seems to be the magic genius number. So, I know that albums 2-4 are already in the can, but the team and I were thinking that maybe you shouldn’t release your follow-up to 2008’s self-titled debut (TMT Review) until, say, May 3 (May 2 in the UK) of 2011. I know, I know; that seems like a long way off from now. But trust me — it’s a dynamite strategy! Sub Pop and Bella Union won’t mind the wait if it means they get a bigger payoff later. And (obviously) from a publicity angle, it’s totally gangbusters. Plus, then you can rest up from all those intensely long tours we’ve been sending you on nonstop. It’s completely win-win-win. You understand.
Anyway, the boys in R&D were thinking you could call the new album Helplessness Blues (that title tested best with our focus groups; people said it had “organic appeal”). And then, once that release date approaches, you can tour North America and Europe again, and it’ll be like some sort of “triumphant return” of this “transcendent band” after all this time spent “holed up trying to express themselves in just the right way” and all that stuff. Ooh, we can even make it sound all Faustian if you want! Or… something like that, anyway. Tell you what; we’ll have the marketing department work on it some more. In the mean time, whatever you do, don’t do anything until 2011!
Cheers,
Your Management Team
04.30.11 - Vancouver, British Columbia - The Vogue Theatre
05.01.11 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
05.03.11 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
05.05.11 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
05.06.11 - San Diego, CA - Spreckels Theatre
05.07.11 - Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Palladium
05.08.11 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre
05.10.11 - Austin, TX - Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheater
05.11.11 - Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom
05.13.11 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
05.14.11 - Atlanta, GA - The Tabernacle
05.15.11 - Washington, DC - DAR Constitution Hall
05.17.11 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
05.18.11 - New York, NY - The United Palace Theatre
05.21.11 - Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theatre
05.25.11 - Berlin, Germany - Astra
05.26.11 - Munich, Germany - Dachau Summer of Music
05.28.11 - Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound
05.30.11 - Paris, France - Bataclan
05.31.11 - London, England - Hammersmith Apollo
• Fleet Foxes: http://www.fleetfoxes.com
• Sub Pop: http://www.subpop.com
• Bella Union: http://www.bellaunion.com
[Photo: Jonathan Fisher]
