Musical Thesis: “Crack-Up” by Fleet Foxes

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At the center of every album is a musical thesis. This thesis can be the driving force behind the album, a theme that interweaves songs together, or a feeling you are left with after the very last song plays. With some albums, the thesis is easy to find. On others, it is hidden and requires you to be more than a passive listener. These reviews aren’t about rating an album. Instead, it is about uncovering a musical thesis.

“Crack-Up” by Fleet Foxes

“Crack-Up,” the third album from Seattle-based Fleet Foxes, can feel like a long conversation with songs that seemingly flow from one to the other. In that conversation, we begin to uncover a haunting examination of the fragility of life. Tomorrow, all of our relationships, all of our work, all of our effort, can be gone in an instant. This should not keep us from living. Instead, it should give us purpose and force us to squeeze every drop of juice from the time we do have. If we do, we might find ourselves on our deathbed guilty of a life well-lived.

Be good to each other,

Nathan