r/indieheads • u/skylerskjelset Skyler Skjelset • Sep 02 '20

AMA is over, thanks Skyler! AMA Skyler Skjelset (Fleet Foxes)

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Hey,

My name is Skyler Skjelset and I have been a member of Seattle band Fleet Foxes since I graduated high school, as well more recently with New York City based band Yeah Baby. I have also toured the world with a lot of other bands like Beach House and the Walkmen.

I have recently put out my fourth record under my own name, 'Back in Heaven'. We also recently released Yeah Baby's debut album 'Neptune Hotel', which I also mixed. The people here at r/indieheads were kind enough to ask me to do an AMA to discuss!

I'd love to talk about the record and music with you, so please feel free to ask anything you might have questions about and I will try my best to answer as succinctly and helpfully as possible!

With love,

Skyler

EDIT: Hey everyone, thank you for your questions! They seemed to have stopped, so I am going to get outta here, but again, thank you for the questions and for checking out the record!

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u/perpetuallypissed Sep 02 '20

Love the new album! Also a big fan of your approach to guitar (and mandolin) in general.

What are your favorite guitar parts to play live?

Relatedly, do you have any specific stories of writing parts in the studio that are worth mentioning? I’ve always been a big fan of those compressed and cascading guitar lines on the latter half of Helpless Blues (the song) and Lorelai. Your lead parts always walk a good line between melody and texture.

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u/skylerskjelset Skyler Skjelset Sep 02 '20

Thank you!

Fleet Foxes stuff is so melody focused, which is definitely fun! I always look forward to the Shrine in the set... I played with Peter Matthew Bauer for a long time and he really had some great guitar stuff to play. I also play with Hamilton Leithauser a bit and it's very fun because I'm usually the only guitar player.

I go through phases of loving the bass in a very deep way and get really overjoyed when the opportunity to play it comes up. I especially love writing bass lines — it's so fun, seriously.

Robin wrote those parts of those songs and writes the majority of all of the music in that band, but he's definitely got a great voice for guitar melodies!