Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

10. Fleet FoxesFleet Foxes

I was doing the Radio 2 show with Stuart about ten years ago, having been on holiday, trying to catch up with my massive pile of CDs, and I put on a new single by some American band, which turned out to be ‘Mykonos’, the Fleet Foxes’ first single. The vocals cut through straightaway: I was all, ‘Bloody hell, this is amazing! What is this?’ I love it when a song can just leap out at you from nowhere. And then, Elizabeth, our producer, went, ‘Oh, that’s funny. That’s one Stuart picked out too.’

The way the Fleet Foxes’ voices blend is just incredible. It’s this glistening sound, and the Bruegel painting on the cover of their album is a great representation of it – this incredibly beautiful thing, with all this other stuff going on inside it. The whole album was another ‘how did they do it?’ moment for me. I genuinely think Robin Pecknold is a genius. It’s also a stroke of luck that all his friends could sing in that way.

Selected in other Baker’s Dozens: Geddy Lee
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