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Fleet Foxes Cover Elliott Smith’s “Angel in the Snow”: Stream
In a move that feels like a perfect harmonic convergence, Fleet Foxes have released a cover of Elliott Smith's hauntingly beautiful 'Angel in the Snow,' a track that now serves as a poignant centerpiece for the soundtrack to Michael Showalter's upcoming film, *Oh. What.Fun. * For those of us who live and breathe the vinyl grooves and festival air, this isn't just another soundtrack addition; it's a sacred passing of the torch, a moment where one generation of meticulous songwriters tips its hat to another.Robin Pecknold and his band have always operated with a kind of pastoral, baroque-folk grandeur, their soundscapes built like cathedrals from intricate vocal harmonies and acoustic textures. To hear them channel the fragile, lo-fi intimacy of Elliott Smith is to witness a profound act of musical empathy.Smith's original, a whispered confession from his posthumously released *New Moon* collection, is a masterpiece of understated melancholy, a song that feels like watching snow fall in the dead of night. Fleet Foxes don't attempt to replicate its raw, four-track magic.Instead, they do what all great interpreters do: they filter it through their own distinct lens, layering Pecknold's clear, yearning tenor over a bed of warm, fingerpicked guitars and their signature, cloud-parting harmonies. It transforms the song from a solitary bedroom recording into a choral lament, expanding its emotional canvas while respecting its bruised heart.This cover exists within a rich tradition of artists paying homage to Smith's enduring legacy, a catalog that continues to inspire long after his tragic passing in 2003. From Phoebe Bridgers' heartfelt renditions to Beck's deep-cut selections, Smith's work remains a touchstone for songwriters who value emotional honesty above all else.For Fleet Foxes, a band whose own work is often concerned with beauty and existential wonder, 'Angel in the Snow' is a perfect match thematically, its lyrics about fleeting grace and quiet devotion echoing the spiritual quests found on their own albums like *Helplessness Blues* and *Shore*. Its placement in a Showalter film—a director known for blending humor with deep pathos—suggests the song will anchor a moment of significant emotional weight, much like how Simon & Garfunkel's 'The Sound of Silence' defined *The Graduate*. This cover is more than a streaming event; it's a curated piece of a larger artistic conversation, a reminder that a great song is a living entity, constantly being rediscovered and re-contextualized, its melody a ghost that finds new voices to inhabit across the decades.
#Fleet Foxes
#Elliott Smith
#cover song
#Angel in the Snow
#soundtrack
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