#23 -- Best Songs of 2008

White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes

For some reason when ever I hear this song, I think of Michigan. Not the eastern, down on its luck, out of options half; rather the western, lake effect snow, and dune lined beaches half. Western Michigan is beautiful, a forgotten part of America known only to a few in the Midwest.

This song is beautiful. There's no other way to describe it. It sounds rustic, older than it really is; yet the song isn't dated like so many bands that attempt to sound retro (see the Darkness or Wolfmother). But I guess I'm missing the point because Fleet Foxes aren't trying to be retro. They're just writing really pretty songs.

And oh yeah, Sufjan Stevens would kill to write a song this simple and beautiful.

So you're reading this saying, "Hey you like Sufjan and you think this song is pretty and good, so why is it coming in at #23?"

Well here in lines the problem with most indie music of the last five to ten years. It has no back bone. There isn't enough "eff you". There isn't enough of a beat, a let's forget life and dance our hearts out. And so sure, you get a ton of pretty songs like this... but they all end up being forgettable a year or two later.

And I fully expect to never listen to Fleet Foxes by the time Twenty-Ten comes around.