The musician Robin Pecknold called the “North Star” of songwriters

Posted On November 4, 2024November 4, 2024

Robin Pecknold comes from a definitive lineage of musicians. The Fleet Foxes leader experimented with indie, folk, chamber pop and progressive flecks to create his definitive sound. His work tends to be dreamy, melodic and all-encompassing, with his lyrics descriptive but often mystifying. This angle connects him to some prominent artists from a time long removed from our own.

It reflects the definitive nature of Pecknold’s artistic character that he’s only released four albums to date with Fleet Foxes – the last coming in the form of 2020’s Shore – and four cumulatively as a solo artist and White Antelope, but still had a sound. He’s a modern master of blending the spirit of his influences, the natural mystery of his native Pacific Northwest, and instituting musical decisions that have become unique to him.

Pecknold was born into a musical family. His father, Greg, was a member of the local 1960s soul group The Fathoms. This meant that great music surrounded him from the outset and would bleed into his general view of the world and his creative sensibilities, which he would become famous for years later. He met fellow Fleet Foxes founding member Skyler Skjelset at the Lake Washington High School, and it didn’t take long for them to become friends, thus initiating the deep friendship and creative partnership at the heart of their band.

Skjelset was also raised around great music, with his mother was a lifelong fan of Bob Dylan and Hank Williams. Together, he and Pecknold coveted songwriting in the purest sense. Their two main influences were Dylan and The Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson, two genius songwriters who bravely pushed the form forward during their pomp and set the bar high for all that followed.

While much is made of Dylan’s creative accomplishments, typified by him taking the giant step of leaving acoustic protest music behind, and delving into electrified rock with surreal and complex wordplay on 1965’s Bringing It All Back Home, a formula later perfected on Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde, Wilson’s endeavours often get overlooked.

Although Wilson had already defined the California sound with The Beach Boys during the early 1960s, his masterwork is 1966’s Pet Sounds. An early concept album and the first genuinely progressive pop body of work that fused poppy hooks with an experimental spirit through incorporating elements of jazz, exotica, classical, and the avant-garde, it was far more daring than Bringing It All Back Home. It was so boundary-pushing and eclectic that you could argue that it paved the way for the sound of modern pop.

The essence of Wilson on Pet Sounds courses throughout the work of Robin Pecknold and his purchasing the album box set made a defining impact on his career. “I’d say no one in music history has better-balanced art and commerce than Brian [Wilson],” Pecknold said during a 2021 interview on Wilson’s website.

He then likened The Beach Boys leader to the “North Star” of music, with his arc guiding the way for all that ensued. He’s not wrong either; even the ostensible leading innovators of popular music, The Beatles, were transformed by the sound of Pet Sounds. “We’re all lucky to always have Brian’s arc and career choices to look to as a North Star,” Pecknold added. “He didn’t turn his back on success, but he was always pushing to be better, more creative, and more honest.”

Pecknold has never been one to mince his words when it comes to Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys. Although sonically, it has always been clear that he is one of their contemporary acolytes, on ‘Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman’ from Shore, he cemented their connection forever. In the introduction, he included an outtake from The Beach Boys’s ‘Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)’. Over the jangling guitar line, Wilson is heard counting. It was a fitting moment.

Related Topics