SPIN

Seattle folk outfit Fleet Foxes have recorded the year's most beautiful album with Helplessness Blues (out May 3), landing them on the cover of SPIN's May issue. For the photo shoot, Dan Martensen traveled to the band's hometown to capture them in their element: Bear Creek Studios, where frontman Robin Pecknold and Co. recorded part of the record.

"It's this thrown-together bohemian cabin and I dove right into their habitat," Martensen says. "The photos have a behind-the-scenes vibe. This is Fleet Foxes in their foxhole."

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(Pictured, from left: Christian Wargo, Morgan Henderson, Robin Pecknold, Skyler Skjelset, Casey Wescott, Josh Tillman)

Despite the major success of their self-titled 2008 debut, Martensen says the band are the antithesis of the classic rock star. "They are really chill and easy going," Martensen says. "Robin is really understated. He's quiet and sweet and considerate. I didn't feel like I was in the presence of a rock star, like I felt when I shot the Strokes for SPIN's April issue."

(Pictured, from left: Skjelset, Pecknold, Wescott, Tillman, Henderson)

When the band stepped outside for a cigarette, Martensen noted the intimacy of their friendships. "Robin (center) and Skyler [Skjelset, left] are really tight," he says. "They have their own jokes between them. The whole band was cracking up and finishing each other's sentences. They're really funny guys." The photo on the right of multi-instrumentalist Christian Wargo wasn't staged, insists Martensen. "He was smoking and I was sitting in the middle of the band, propelling the conversation, and just shooting. I really like that picture."

"It was a typically drizzly day in Seattle, so it was perfect to capture the band in their natural environment," says Martensen. "They present themselves to the world as this bearded, hippy folk band from pastoral Seattle, and these photos capture that."

(Pictured, from left: Skjelset, Wargo, Henderson, Wescott, Tillman, Pecknold)

During a break in the shoot, Pecknold (right) sat down at the piano and lead guitarist Skjelset joined him. "They were teaching each other some old song," says Martensen. "They were just goofing around and having fun. But some other bands wouldn't take the time to play an instrument unless they were performing or recording. For them, though, it was like, 'Look, it's an instrument. Let's play it!' It was innate."

Pecknold, left, struggled with Helplessness Blues, writing, rewriting, and making last minute tweaks. "My relationships and experiences were all colored with this voice in the back of my head saying, 'You should be working on songs right now,'" he says in SPIN's cover story. "I really had trouble letting go of the record. Spending so much time on this album, being this really focused, self-involved guy isn't healthy in the other aspects of my life.... My problem isn't drugs or anything like that. My problem is music."

(Pictured: Henderson, right)

The band, who started a bonfire behind the studio, are gearing up to drop Helplessness Blues and launch a supporting tour -- and Jonathan Poneman, co-founder of their label Sub Pop Records, has high expectations. "As a musical accomplishment, it's hard for me to think of a record that we've put out that surpasses this record," he says in the cover story. "Even if they were to stop now, this is a career-defining work."(Pictured, from left: Wargo, Tillman, Henderson, Skjelset, Pecknold, Wescott)