Photos by Rich Thane | Words by Rich Hughes

It’s been a while coming… unlike Mr. Richard Thane (here and here), I’ve not had the pleasure of seeing Fleet Foxes live yet. I’ve lived with the album for, what feels like, a lifetime. It’s become an essential album, one I turn to frequently when I want to drift away and escape from the confines of my Credit Crunched life. And yet, as I approached The Junction on a freezing cold night, I was worried. I know these songs inside out, how will they translate live? Will the vocal harmonies still resonate so spectacularly? By the hushed expectation of the crowd, I don’t think I was the only one with these concerns… Continue Reading

Back in June, Fleet Foxes were just finishing off their first ever UK tour. A handful of dates around the major cities, showcasing their just released self titled album and Sun Giant EP. They had lots to prove, the hyperbole surrounding them was unprecedented - everyone from Plan B magazine to Aled Jones (?!) on Radio 2 were talking about them. THE buzz band of 2008, for want of a better phrase.

After a sold-out show at London’s ULU, which pretty much left me speechless for about 30 minutes afterwards, Fleet Foxes announced a headline slot at one of London’s prime venues; the Shepherds Bush Empire. It sold out within 24 hours, as did the subsequent tour. Surely this would be one of the most important and celebrative gigs of their short career so far? Continue Reading

J. Tillman is a Seattle based musician who has been quietly releasing solo albums for the past few years, before which he was stick man for the instrumental rock band Saxon Shore, and now more recently he is the newly arrived drummer for Fleet Foxes. The thing is, though, those quietly released albums have been brilliant. It seems that he has been caught in the fickle tides of the internet music boom: too many artists too readily available, so someone as talented as Tillman can all too easily get ignored. Continue Reading

Not only is he the newest member of the magnificent Fleet Foxes, Josh Tillman is also a highly respected solo artist in his own right. Having released three albums over the same number of years, Tillman has just finished his fourth Vacilando Territory Blues which is set for release at some point this year. We caught up with Josh a few days ago to find out what he’s been listening/reading/watching over the past few months.

To find out more about Tillman’s work, check out our TLOBF Loves piece on him from a couple of days ago.

Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
An instrumental group from Texas called Balmorhea. It’s pretty classically informed and a great sucker-punch for the Western ear. “River Arms” has been great company on bike rides, etc.

What’s been the best album you’ve heard in the last 12 months?
The Daktaris “Soul Explosion”

What was the last book you read? Would you recommend it?
I just finished “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins. Carrying that book around is something of a confrontation sandwich board and I’ve had to diffuse quite a few “witnessing” attempts on airplanes, gettng coffee, etc. I’d recommend it for private enjoyment, or to invest in a Bible book cover. Continue Reading

J. Tillman is from Seattle, he used to play drums in a post-rock band called Saxon Shore, but left after one album. Soon after he started writing and performing singer/songwriter type music, mixing folk, country and blues, releasing a couple of limited release and not widely well known albums.

Now, I hesitate to use the word ‘sensitive’ because of various negative connotations that it has accrued over the last decade or so, but when I first heard ‘Darling Night’, the first track off Minor Works, it was what immediately came to mind. There is a fragility and a hurt in Tillman’s voice that can knock you flat the first time you hear it, and it embodies some of the best things I look for when listening to country/Americana influenced music. His voice is strong, but high up in the register and with the ability to pull out a thinness when needed. A country twang hovers just out of sight and there is a strong but indefinable, (to this English guy, anyway), American accent. That’s not all, because there is also a stoic solidity in there too, borne out in the lyrical content as well as the delivery, hardly ever do you sense that the guy is feeling sorry for himself, he just talks about the realities and the sadness of relationships and life sans schmaltz. Continue Reading