Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold Reflects on Elliott Smith’s Enduring Legacy and New Holiday Cover
A new rendition of Elliott Smith’s “Angel in the Snow” by Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, featured on the soundtrack for the Amazon MGM holiday film Oh. What. fun, arrives with a heartfelt tribute too the late singer-songwriter. The soundtrack also boasts contributions from Gwen Stefani, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, St. Vincent, Sharon Van Etten, and the bird and the bee.
Directed by Michael Showalter, Oh. What. Fun. centers on a family matriarch, portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer, who finds herself unexpectedly separated from her family during the holiday season. The film’s ensemble cast includes Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, Denis Leary, Dominic Sessa, danielle Brooks, Devery Jacobs, Havana Rose Liu, Maude Apatow, Jason Schwartzman, Eva Longoria, and Joan Chen.
Pecknold’s early attempts to honor Smith’s work weren’t met with immediate acclaim.In the early 2000s, while a student in Seattle, his cover of Smith’s “Pitseleh” failed to resonate with the judges at a high school talent show-a panel comprised of teachers, as he recalled to SPIN.”The judges were the teachers and they didn’t get it,” Pecknold stated, “so the next year I went back and did ‘After the Gold Rush.’ That time, I won.” His dedication to Smith’s memory extended beyond the stage; at his high school graduation in 2004, Pecknold distributed handouts bearing the inscription “RIP Elliott,” utilizing the plastic sleeve in the yearbook to create a small, personal memorial.
Smith’s influence on Pecknold’s musical journey is profound. He credits Smith’s innovative “weird tunings and different chord shapes” with inspiring him to pick up the guitar.Pecknold draws a parallel between the Beach Boys’ mastery of chamber orchestration and the intimate power of Joni Mitchell and Elliott Smith, who achieved remarkable depth with just a few guitars and elegant songwriting. “When I was a teenager, I would try and make Elliott ripoff songs that really missed the point,” Pecknold admitted. “It’s just so singular. It stopped being something I even tried to integrate that much into what I was doing. It was the kind of thing where you love it so much that you leave it alone, you know?”
Acknowledging the emotional weight of “Angel in the Snow,” Pecknold highlighted its “tenderness,” a quality he finds prevalent throughout Smith’s discography. He distinguished it from the “empty darkness” that characterizes some of Smith’s later work. His approach to covering the song is notably faithful. “I’m very literal with covers,” Pecknold explained. “I treat them more like sheet music than something to be drastically reinterpreted. I’m just historical reenactment-coded to some degree (laughs). It’s really fun to dive into stuff like that, especially when there are slightly more involved parts to be executing.”
Pecknold attributes the enduring appeal of sensitive songwriters like Smith and Jeff Buckley to a unique blend of influences. He noted that he initially overlooked the “’90s-ness” of both artists, focusing rather on their connections to the 1960s. “Jeff Buckley had Nina Simone’s delivery, and Elliott had those Beatles-esque chord progressions,” he observed. He also sees a clear lineage between Smith’s work and contemporary artists like Phoebe Bridgers, who are reintroducing his ideas to a new generation. “he’s one where you’re like, man, what would he have been doing if he was still around? God. It’s such a shame, but he left an incredible body of work for sure.”
