5) FLEET FOXES, FLEET FOXES

Indie rock is awash in bearded young guys channeling the hippie-dippy spirit of their parents' old record collections. But on this haunting debut, Seattle's Fleet Foxes distinguish themselves from the vintage-vinyl crowd by infusing their rootsy retro-pop moves with a sense of mystery that no one's really summoned since Oh, Inverted World changed Natalie Portman's life. Like the Shins' James Mercer, frontman Robin Pecknold is more mood man than storyteller. But his eye for detail can devastate.