Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Seattle's Beach Boys produced probably the most unexpectedly delightful album of 2008 with a series of melodies Brian Wilson and certainly Noel Gallagher would have paid top dollar for.

Many albums lay claims to feature no filler and yet few manage it. The Fleet Foxes are a perfect exception. Each track is crafted to perfection; each melody instantly hummable and never has summer sounded so sunny. Opener 'Sun It Rises' provides a strong start before 'White Winter Hymnal', a contender for song of the year, sets the tone for the remaining nine songs with it's slow choral build and clever lyrical rhyme.

Robin Pecknold's ear for a toe-tapping tune shows it's strength on 'Ragged Wood' the stomping 'Quiet Houses' while softer, acoustic songs such as 'Tiger Mountain Peasant Song' and 'Meadowlarks' again make the West Coast seem almost immemorial; a feat not achieved since the Beach Boys sixties sun-dripped harmonies themselves.

However, it's on the album's best song 'He Doesn't Know Why' that all these elements come together to create three minutes of pop perfection. Pecknold's voice soars over a soft acoustic strum and tinkling piano which injects what is in effect a restrained song with passion and heart.

If the prediction for a long warm summer is correct, then the Foxes' return this year might provide the perfect soundtrack once again.

Best tracks: 'He Doesn't Know Why', 'White Winter Hymnal', 'Quiet Houses'

Dan Clay