The best catchy song you'll hear this year

Posted on Mar 2, 2009 in Music | 0 comments

No, I’m not talking about Beyonce’s “All the single ladies,” though one would certainly forgive you for thinking so. I’m talking about the Fleet Foxes’ White Winter Hymnal. You’ve probably not heard it yet, as the FF are just gaining some popularity. Take a listen (and a watch) to the song, the second track from their self-titled album, Fleet Foxes:

The video, a “claymation” piece, is not at all what I picture when I hear the song, but it’s interesting none the less. To me, it’s a winter/Christmas tune. The lyrics bring to my mind a snowy field filled with kids making snowmen, with rosy cheeks peeping out from big jackets and the red scarves:

I was following the pack
all swallowed in their coats
with scarves of red tied ’round their throats
to keep their little heads
from fallin’ in the snow
And I turned ’round and there you go
And, Michael, you would fall
and turn the white snow red as strawberries
in the summertime.

The style of music, with its overlapping and repeating vocals (the opening refrain, “I was following the…” is repeated eight times before continuing) and warm, lush production brings to mind the music of the 50s. The Fleet Foxes, though, are very much a modern band—and from Seattle no less! It’s the kind of song that you hear once (like on NPR’s All Songs Considered, where I first heard it) and you can’t get it out of your head. But in a good way. I bought the MP3 and a few others from the album, but White Winter Hymnal stands out as a catchy, listenable and strangely heartwarming song. Hope you enjoy it.

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