Shore, by Fleet Foxes (2024)

1.

Summer all overBlame it on timingWeakening August waterLoose-eyed in morningSunlight covered overWading in sight of fireAnd we’re finally aligningMore than maybe I can chooseSoon as I knew youAll so wide openWading inside of fireAs if I just saw youCross Second AvenueWading in waist-high waterAnd I love you so violentMore than maybe I can doNow we’re finally aligningMore than maybe I can choose

2.

For Richard SwiftFor John and BillFor every gift lifted far before its willJudee and SmithFor Berman tooI’ve met the myth hanging heavy over youI loved you longYou rose to goBeneath you, songs, perfect angels in the snowSo time to stageForget reserveThe type of great coronation you deserveI’m going out for a weekendI’m gonna borrow a Martin or GibsonWith Either/Or and The Hex for my BookendsCarrying every text that you’ve givenI’m gonna swim for a week inWarm American Water with dear friendsSwimming high on a lea in an edenRunning all of the leads you’ve been leavingI’m overmatched (For Arthur Russell)I’m half as wise (Duncan and Curtis)If this is flat, brother I apologize (Jimi and David / For Nick and Otis)No one alone (For Bell and Buckley)Can leave the cave (Marvin and Adam)And all you’ve loaned won’t be kept inside a grave (For Arthur Russell / For Arthur Russell)I’m gonna swim for a week inWarm American Water with dear friendsJust intending that I would delight themSwimming high on a lea in an edenSo I dreamSo I dreamI’m gonna swim for a week inWarm American Water with dear friendsSwimming high on a lea in an edenRunning all of the leads you’ve been leavingAnd in your rarified air I feel sunblindI’m looking up at you there high in my mindOnly way that I made it for a long timeBut I’m loud and alive, singing you all nightWarm American Water

3.

Can I believe you?Can I believe you?Can IEver know your mind?Am I handing you mine?Do we both confide?I see it eat through every word I sowSee what you need to, do you doubt it’s yoursNow I’m learning the ropesNever get this closeI’ve been wounded beforeHasn’t let me goCan I believe you when you say I’m good?I didn’t need to when I wished you wouldNo it isn’t enoughNever held that muchNow another way upBeen a row too roughIt never got less strange, showing anyone just a bare faceIf I don’t, well, nothing will changeStaying under my weather all dayLately I’m wondering tooWhat type of desire I can breakWhen I’m one way with them, one with youWhat half is it of me rearranged?Can I believe you?Can I believe you?I want to need youI want to need youCan I believe you?Can I believe you?

4.

First sight of the first good morning since you’ve been out of townFirst time any violet omens don’t shadow me aroundSo you want part of the great white tyrant, of ghost after ghost?Well you won’t stop and I know you’ll find it, halfway down the coastYou were never afraid of fighting, you blame an angry godAnd when you see the first sign of violence, you bear it all as hardWhen you held her son and wept I just felt jealous most of allThe best I had was near as bad as the sign of the rising fallThough we’re only alive a short whileSo many beneath my feetAll weather, you walk with meAnd you were off on a wandering mileI was holding a weak excuseI was heavy beneath blueNow you’re off to Victor on his ladder to the skyAnd I’m left to sing it with you from my piece of the watersideAnd you sang for the lost and gone who were young, and deserving moreAnd now I’m stood upright all night ready when you come in the doorThough we’re only alive a short whileSo many beneath my feetAll weather, you walk with meAnd you were off on a wandering mileI was holding a weak excuseI was heavy beneath blueAll I heardWait for the wordYou’re coming with me

5.

All this time I’ve been hanging onTo an edge I caught when we both were youngThat the world I want wasn’t near enoughAll was distant, always offIn all that war I’d forgotten howMany men might die for what I’d renounceI was staging life as a battlegroundNo I let that grasping fallMay the last long year be forgivenAll that war left within itI couldn’t, though I’m beginning toAnd we only made it togetherFeel some change in the weatherI couldn’t though I’m beginning toThough it’s all so uncertain, coldAll the rafters cracked, all the copper soldThere’s a ration back in a manifoldIf you need it or forgotMay the last long year be forgivenAll that war left within itI couldn’t, though I’m beginning toAnd we only made it togetherFeel some change in the weatherI couldn’t though I’m beginning toAnd somehow I see it’s freeAnd with love and hate in the balanceOne last way past the maliceOne warm day is all I really needAnd with love and hate in the balanceOne last way past the maliceOne warm day is all I really need

6.

More than I had in mindMore than I wish I knewAnd now it’s near on meSome rush of red fearAnd my worst old times look fine from hereI know you walked this routeAnd you might help me outYou said what’s done is doneI can’t turn the hand ‘roundBut still it looks a long way downOh man, was it that much better then?We were left alone, we were proud of our painAnd so I want to walk out in the nightSee the wide young river flood rainWe’re not on one straight lineI made my own way throughAnd when the track goes coldI’ll know that it’s trueThat rebirth won’t work like it used toOh man, was it that much better then?We were left alone, we were proud of our painAnd so I want to walk out in the nightSee the wide young river flood rainAnd I can’t let goOf a lot I’ve leftI’m holding nothingBut what I keptAnd it all got dimmerEach passing stepAnd I need you with meAnd you read the writAre you now insistingIs it not worth it?But I’ve got no optionI inherited this and I’m overcomeThat’s that, we’re a long way from the pastI’ll be better off in a year or in two

7.

Some lost coastSome bright daysNo face on your young headPiece of wheatIn your teethCarrying water, pears, and breadAnd you’re close to some surrenderYou can feel it at your feetAnd later on remember When the fever broke and you could eatAnd you’ve brought enough to last another week or twoKnow the door is open know that I missYou sought landOvergrownNo words, no false, no trueWater standsWaves just pass through itLike something moves through you

8.

Monday nightLoud in the road outsideI saw the gate coming downAnd smoke all aroundThe south hillThese last daysCon-men controlled my fateNo one is holding the whipAnd the oil won’t stickBut I willNow that a light is onNow that the water runsAnd the heartless are nearly goneNo time to get it wrongSunday endAche for the sight of friendsThough I’ve been safe in the thoughtThat the line we walkIs the same oneNow that a light is onNow that the water runsAnd the heartless are nearly goneNo time to get it wrongSometimes it comes to this, no it’s trueThis time, what comes of it, call it dueI doI doI doI doNow that a light is onNow that the water runsAnd the heartless are nearly goneNo time to get it wrong

9.

New day rising, come close the blue blindsI’ll be lying in my ocean of timeI could dress as Arthur LeeScrape my shoes the right wayMaybe read UlyssesBut it’s a young man’s gameDying fire, so tired of this placeNot inspired, can’t keep to this paceI could worry through each nightFind something unique to sayI could pass as eruditeBut it’s a young man’s gameYou should knowYou’re my last hopeI’ve been solving for the meaning of lifeNo one tried before and likely I’m rightNot too straight or too cleanLike your borrowed blue bikeI’ve been a rolling antiqueFor all my lifeYou should knowYou’re my last hopeI’ve been lucky as sinNot one thing in my wayJust the arena I was inBut it’s a young man’s game

10.

Blood of my bloodSkin of my skinYou’re in roundelay water againI want to face the condition you’re inThe old wrenches hardly turn meCan you catch a thrown lineTied around neatCircle once about, please allow meI see the pall coming off of our cheeksWe’re weak but a leaf is turningAnd I move lightly in the dawnTry to, lightly ever on the leeThough I liked summer light on youIf we ride a winter-long windWell time’s not what I belong toAnd I’m not the season I’m inHolding on closeHolding on toAny kind of ring I can bring youAnd at the beachwood pyre good newsIt’s wet but it’s catching easyAnd I move slightly in the dawnTry to, gently ever on the leeThough I liked summer light on youIf we ride a winter-long windWell time’s not what I belong toAnd you’re not the season you’re in

11.

Quiet air, quiet in blueQuiet ice-melt, summer-red cedarQuiet air might terrify youQuiet now though soon enough louderSome shape, float on faith, in the eyeYou want to go where the fire is worstYou want to watch our tower drop to the waterI know you don’t want anyone else hurtI know you don’t you’re better you’re strongerSome shape, float on faith in the eyeSome shape, floating in the eyeI’ll be alone in the corduroy heathI’ll wait a long time till the hard rain is overYou’re alone and you’re calling on meI’m underneath my canopy colderSome shape, float on faith in the eyeSome shape, floating in the eye/Feeling a gold unfolding hand on meNowhere to go, no one I’d rather see (oh devil walk by)Oh devil walk by (I never want to die)Oh devil walk by (I never want to die)Feeling a gold unfolding hand on me (wrong hour, wrong time)Oh devil walk by (I never want to die)Feeling a gold unfolding hand on me (wrong hour, wrong time)Nowhere to go

12.

Due west at a blind day’s end, flying pavement underfootSome horizon eyeing me up, often does right at duskOften known it wore that lookAnd I’ve known it one too many timesAnd the thought of flight for water whiterNow those passing dotted linesGoing on and on just shake my sleep all nightCould be I’m finally losing my fightDue south all the fog aired out, no idea where all this leadsThough I still wanted to show Going-to-the-Sun Road to youStill got one in meIf I want to, I’ll arrive at peaceI know I decide what I rememberIf this ever mended meAll the on and onJust shakes my sleep all nightNow I’m losing my fightA estrada do solO começo de tudoE as nuvens que agora se afastamMostrando um caminho que está sempre láE que é qualquer lado que a gente quiser caminhar

13.

Pair of tin cups rolling in the backseatRustle like a mallet on a downbeatRain will make rust, water on the concreteHave a true love, more than just an outlineSolid shape of, known it for a long timeNever failed us, even losing daylightThymia accompany us All the way to TownsendHow to explain, moving as a phantom?Falling like rain, over and abandonedThymia accompany us All the way to Townsend

14.

I’ll run downLay my weight where it liesI’ll come roundOut in sheltering skySeek you outLike I wanted it whenIt was eighty-eight outAnd the apricot flowers were coming inAnd I feel worn, but the air is cleanAnd my clothes are torn, but it’s right on mePassing rain, blue white heatAgony, not to me, it’s not defeatNo one hereSay we waited our whileGood ideaCrowding out of those aislesNowhere nearWhere I thought we would beBut one and the sameThe drought and the rain to meAnd I’ve been a while goneBut the air is cleanAnd I had it all wrongBut I made my peacePassing thought, empty streetAgony, not to me, it’s not defeatI’ve been bright, I’ve been fadedI’m nearly halfway throughBarely believe we made itWhen I met eyes with youI caught a walking feverI know how all this endsPalm over my receiverCradling me again

15.

Kin of my kinI rely on youTaking me inWhen a wave runs me throughAs a shore I ever seem to sail toAnd I know old heavinesses shake youMaybe I stayedLittle long, could beI needed shadeSand on my feetAnd it’s some new ailment is in meCan’t divide what’s memory and what’s dreamAfraid of the emptyBut too safe on the shoreAnd ‘fore I forget meI want to recordWhile I see it allWhile I see it allI remember walking shoulders hours speakingI remember meeting Clementine and weepingI remember Prine I remember youAfter word of Berman I remember Pfeiffer burningI remember hoping I’d remember nothingNow I only hope I’m holding onto somethingNow the quarter moon is outNow the quarter moon is out

Today, on the Autumnal Equinox, Fleet Foxes released their fourth studio album Shore at 6:31 am PT/9:31 am ET. The bright and hopeful album, released via Anti-.

Shore was recorded before and during quarantine in Hudson (NY), Paris, Los Angeles, Long Island City and New York City from September 2018 until September 2020 with the help of recording and production engineer Beatriz Artola.The fifteen song, fifty-five minute Shore was initially inspired by frontman Robin Pecknold’s musical heroes such as Arthur Russell, Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guebrou and more who, in his experience, celebrated life in the face of death. “I see “shore” as a place of safety on the edge of something uncertain, staring at Whitman’s waves reciting ‘death,’” commented Pecknold. “Tempted by the adventure of the unknown at the same time you are relishing the comfort of the stable ground beneath you. This was the mindset I found, the fuel I found, for making this album.”

Pecknold continues:

Since the unexpected success of the first Fleet Foxes album over a decade ago, I have spent more time than I’m happy to admit in a state of constant worry and anxiety. Worried about what I should make, how it will be received, worried about the moves of other artists, my place amongst them, worried about my singing voice and mental health on long tours. I’ve never let myself enjoy this process as much as I could, or as much as I should. I’ve been so lucky in so many ways in my life, so lucky to be born with the seeds of the talents I have cultivated and lucky to have had so many unreal experiences. Maybe with luck can come guilt sometimes. I know I’ve welcomed hardship wherever I could find it, real or imagined, as a way of subconsciously tempering all this unreal luck I’ve had. By February 2020, I was again consumed with worry and anxiety over this album and how I would finish it. But since March, with a pandemic spiraling out of control, living in a failed state, watching and participating in a rash of protests and marches against systemic injustice, most of my anxiety around the album disappeared. It just came to seem so small in comparison to what we were all experiencing together. In its place came a gratitude, a joy at having the time and resources to devote to making sound, and a different perspective on how important or not this music was in the grand scheme of things. Music is both the most inessential and the most essential thing. We don’t need music to live, but I couldn’t imagine life without it. It became a great gift to no longer carry any worry or anxiety around the album, in light of everything that is going on. A tour may not happen for a year, music careers may not be what they once were. So it may be, but music remains essential. This reframing was another stroke of unexpected luck I have been the undeserving recipient of. I was able to take the wheel completely and see the album through much better than I had imagined it, with help from so many incredible collaborators, safe and lucky in a new frame of mind.