Premature Evaluation: Fleet Foxes Shore
(WorldNews Music)

Crack-Up could’ve been a conclusion. It certainly sounded like one, whether because the album played like a frayed breakdown at the end of Fleet Foxes’ constant searching, or that out of desolation and paralysis it still managed to locate moments of resolution. The whole thing, after all, was named for an F. Scott Fitzgerald essay and the concept of holding two conflicting thoughts in your mind at once. Robin Pecknold used the example of “I can’t go on, I must go on,” which worked as the album’s mission statement, and which seemed about as appropriate a mantra for the 21st century as one could settle on. Despite still being young, Pecknold had tapped into...