Shore is the fourth studio album by American band Fleet Foxes, released on September 22, 2020, by Anti- Records.
It was announced one day in advance of its release, and was intentionally released exactly at the autumnal equinox on September 22, 2020. It is the follow-up to their 2017 album Crack-Up and is the band's first release on Anti- Records. It is the band's second album since regrouping in 2016 after a three-year hiatus.
Frontman Robin Pecknold began writing Shore in September 2018 and recorded the album between September 2019 and September 2020, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pecknold produced the album, working alongside recording and mixing engineer Beatriz Artola. It was made by Pecknold without the other members of the band and features a "brighter" sound than their previous work. Shore features a number of collaborators, including other vocalists. Pecknold has called the album a celebration of "life in the face of death".
Shore received widespread acclaim from music critics and appeared on several year-end lists. It was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
Background
A fourth Fleet Foxes album was first mentioned in December 2016 by frontman Robin Pecknold, three months before the announcement of their third studio album Crack-Up (2017). Pecknold claimed that Fleet Foxes was contractually obligated to release another album "within 24 months" of their third album. However, Pecknold clarified that a fourth album had not been written yet and that he was in the process of writing a solo album. Days before the release of Crack-Up, Pecknold teased a fourth album titled Gioia. Crack-Up was released by Nonesuch Records on June 16, 2017. Around the same time, Pecknold stated that he wanted the band's fourth album to have a "joyous" and "ecstatic" sound. He described Crack-Up as beginning in "pure conflicted solitude" and ending in a "bright clearing", and said he wanted their next album to be a "celebration of or elaboration on how Crack-Up ends."
Fleet Foxes embarked on an extensive tour in support of Crack-Up, playing upwards of 170 shows. The tour concluded with a performance at the 2018 Bumbershoot festival in Seattle on September 2, 2018.
Writing and recording
Pecknold began writing Shore in September 2018, immediately after touring Crack-Up. He wanted to find a "new, brighter way" of writing songs. He created playlists of hundreds of "warm" songs, immersing himself in the music of Arthur Russell, Curtis Mayfield, Nina Simone, Michael Nau, Van Morrison, Sam Cooke, The Roches, João Gilberto, Piero Piccioni, Tim Bernardes, Tim Maia, Jai Paul, and Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou. Pecknold set out to be productive and avoid another long break between albums, and wrote every day to develop compositions and a musical concept. He wanted to write an album that would celebrate "life in the face of death" and honor musical heroes that have died, explicitly referencing them in the lyrics and "carrying them" in the music. He wanted the album to "exist in a liminal space outside of time" and to provide a sense of relief from some immediate uncertainty. Pecknold wrote consistently for a year, including during a month-long writing trip in rural Portugal.