Caught Fleet Foxes on the Culture Show over the weekend. Music aside, what caught my attention was the band's apparent devotion to facial hair. The appeal of the latter has always been a mystery to me, especially when exhibited by the under-60's. Ok, your songs may be sourced directly from 1968 but you can still indulge in a little grooming now and again, no? Whatever fashion-based skeletons I may have packed tightly in my cupboard, I can assure thee that face-fuzz sure ain't one of 'em.
And while we're at it, that interview... jeez, it's like something from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I'm sure the lead-beard is one helluva song-writing prodigy, but if you remove the word 'Like,' he actually utters about 6 words in total, proving that sometimes there's a lot to be said for faceless techno anonymity.
Don't get me wrong pop-kids, I can be a sucker for timeless-acoustic-guitar-from-wooded-glade-in-Laurel-Canyon music as much as the next Mojo-reading beard-jockey, (check out today's Listening to selection) but many of it's exponents, these days at least, don't make for great interviews it has to be said. Now this band of folk-revisionists did it right in my book. Exactly how I like it - no song-explanations, and never, ever any facial hair.