Sounds, Blues, Ebbs, and Flows

As an a cappella singer and a student of harmony, two musical groups immediately come to mind as some of the most influential artists in my own musical experience: The Beach Boys and Fleet Foxes. If you don’t know Fleet Foxes, I understand—the indie-folk-rock group produced only two full-length LPs in their years together before their members faded into other musical projects. Still, they received critical acclaim and infiltrated the iTunes libraries of several new indie music listeners. If you don’t know The Beach Boys—well, I may be a little more concerned.

These two groups—differing in era, genre, fame, and longevity—provide a great starting point for part one of an in-depth look at the most important features that set albums apart from other forms of recorded music. Their shared emphasis on layering voices and instruments in innovative ways gives their work some simple points of comparison that don’t require tons of explanation for the untrained ear.

“Pet Sounds” (1966) for The Beach Boys and “Helplessness Blues” (2011) for Fleet Foxes offer the best space for this exploration because both represent an expansion of each band’s previous sound, yet are still great for easy, feel-good listening. For all you humanities concentrators out there, the rest of this article will take the form of a close reading of both works as I examine the first two elements that define good albums: the opening and the ebb and flow.

The Opening

“Pet Sounds” opens with the well-known Beach Boys hit, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” While the song is energetic and straightforward in structure, it sets the stage for the rest of the album. First, the theme of the lyrics—longing to come of age—goes beyond the oft-superficial surfer references of previous BB hits and begins the most thematically complex album in The Beach Boys’ opus on a solid note. Second, it takes on qualities of a Broadway overture by using changes in key (in the bridge), tempo (the slow section), and texture (by slowly layering in more intricate motifs) that sample what’s in store for the rest of the album.

Funny enough, “Montezuma,” the opener on “Helplessness Blues,” features similar building layers, memorable licks, and lyrical themes to “Pet Sounds,” but it introduces the listener to the feeling of “spacey-ness” that defines the rest of “Helplessness.” While maintaining a steady pulse that is palatable and attention-grabbing, the track builds to an expansive climax and then retreats to end on a chord that feels far from final. When listening to this track alone, this ending feels odd, but it makes perfect sense as a transition into “Bedouin Dress,” which rests comfortably in the key of that strange ending chord.

The Ebb and Flow

Contrast for contrast’s sake has no place on these albums or on any good album—rather, the goal is to create contrasts that feel natural and purposeful rather than abrupt or haphazard. Both bands achieve this ebb and flow within individual songs and across their entire album.

On “Pet Sounds,” the deliberateness of the second track, “You Still Believe in Me,” is a calming re-centering, and the soaring harmonies at the end of the track propel us into the rest of the album.  The placement of the instrumental track, “Let’s Go Away for Awhile” feels like both a welcome break in the action as well as an intensifier between the edgy “I’m Waiting for the  Day” and the feel-good climax, “Sloop John B.” Individual songs use their middle sections to bring the listener to new keys (“God Only Knows”) or to build intensity with an a cappella break (“Sloop John B”). Overall, these contrasts are tied together as a natural progression of emotion using instrumentation and a unified lyrical theme.

The combination of Fleet Foxes’ simple folk roots and their more experimental risk-taking leads to a heightened sense of ebb and flow on “Helplessness Blues.” How can “Someone You’d Admire”—elegant, relaxed, and static—feel natural next to the upended and raucous “The Shrine/An Argument?” Because the latter achieves a level of growth through tension, release, and layering that would sound abrupt if you listened to the first 30 seconds and final 30 seconds consecutively but feels right over the course of the eight-minute song.  Fleet Foxes uses this model and applies it to their entire album, using wholly instrumental tracks and expansive vocal range to make the album feel natural from start to finish.

While both “Pet Sounds” and “Helplessness Blues” have their shortcomings (as all works of art do), they are emblematic of the finesse necessary to craft emotional ideas into long-form music. If The Beach Boys or Fleet Foxes aren’t your jam, though, don’t worry. Whether you acknowledge that both bands display top-notch songwriting and killer harmonies or not, the presence of great openers and natural ebb and flow say a lot about these bands' ability to make a great album. And, as these artists show, these elements have stood the test of time, spanned numerous genres, and defined all great albums for over half a century.