Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold has discussed his relationship with former Fleet Foxes drummer Josh Tillman in a Reddit AMA completed yesterday (May 21).
In response to one fan’s question about Tillman’s departure to pursue a solo career as Father John Misty, Pecknold wrote, “Josh and I haven’t spoken since the end of touring HB and, to be honest, we didn’t really speak much for the two years before that either. We ended up going down different paths too soon before our touring and recording commitments were finished. Happy he’s doing his thing tho.”
Another fan asked about the sessions for ‘Helplessness Blues’ – the 2011 album after which Tillman left, and the band went on hiatus. On this period, Pecknold wrote, “Sadly, my relationship with Josh was fully deteriorated by that point. We had really gone separate roads by 2010 but remained in the project together to honor our recording and touring commitments and to not let any fans down who might be coming to our shows. I wish that things had gone differently. Making sure everyone involved is feeling good and that relations are strong is a big priority for me now.”
Pecknold also discussed the new Fleet Foxes album, which he has told fans will be out next year. One fan asked if it will sound like Pecknold’s recent upload to Soundcloud, ‘Swimming’. “Swimming not the vibe of LP3,” he wrote, later telling another fan of that song, “I’ve been trying to get the experimentation out of the way in private.”
He went on to tell another fan how the new album would sound in relation to previous albums ‘Fleet Foxes’ and ‘Helplessness Blues’: “If FF was like 40% the real deal and HB was 70% real deal I’d like the next one to be at least 89%, it will be different in the ways that it would need to be different to be more legit, but it won’t be a dance record or a genre shift just trying to arrive at an album that feels dope.”
Pecknold is currently at Columbia University and has attributed his return to Fleet Foxes to his time at college, saying “I also got some academic pretensions out of my system that I won’t be inflicting upon the listening public thru song. You are welcome.”