Fox and the Bird - Darkest Hours (2014)

A folk-pop band with gang vocals and layered harmonies, Fox and the Bird is a choral collective of rotating songwriters and singers. The band’s characteristically rich, up-beat orchestration is hitched to banjos, accordions, ukuleles & fiddles to form the foundation of a sound reminiscent of hard times and high hopes.

Fox & The Bird's latest album, Darkest Hours, is a sorrowfully appropriate title for an unapologetically bare-bones, brutally honest folk album. From lyrics chronicling the confusion of lost love in “Ashes” and “Bend” to commentary on the darkly violent tendencies seen in human nature as presented in “Habit” and “Valley,” the album laments hardship, poverty, death, loss… those moments in life when the darkness seems most impenetrable.

But while Darkest Hours is a heavy follow-up to the band's debut Floating Feather, lyrically, their characteristic rich, up-beat orchestration carries us through the darkness with an innate sort of joy and hints at the light that inevitably follows even our darkest of hours.

Fox and the Bird continues to produce and self-release its albums, touring and always committed to music that is made on back porches, in living rooms and on the streets. Darkest Hours is set for release January 14th, and will be available on vinyl, CD and digital formats.