The official start of autumn yesterday (September 22) brings about many emotions, and essentially starts the countdown to winter. But before we soundtrack our mornings and nights with a particular sort of hymnal, Fleet Foxes are here in the moment with a new visual for “Featherweight.” The stop-motion video is directed by frontman Robin Pecknold’s brother and longtime visual collaborator Sean Pecknold, and arrives on the one-year autumnal equinox anniversary of Fleet Foxes’ latest album, Shore, which first featured the song. The animation follows a hawk who is unable to fly due to a damaged wing, and the adventures and lessons that ensue because of it.
“Robin and I grew up together, watching a lot of the same movies and animations,” says Sean Pecknold, who has crafted the visual narrative for Fleet Foxes songs since 2008. “So, I think we are able to collaborate in a way that is very trusting and intuitive. We are connected on a similar wavelength.”
“Featherweight” is the 10th Fleet Foxes visual created by the animator and music video and film director. Here he’s teamed with Robot Chicken and Anomalisa animator Eileen Kholheep (“Eileen has an incredible attention to detail and ended up bringing the characters to life in a way I could never have done by myself”) and Toronto-based artist Sean Lewis.
“I discovered Sean’s work when he illustrated one of the first Fleet Foxes t-shirts in 2008,” he says. “We had a chance to team up in 2020 to create concept art for a feature-length animation I’ve been working on. The experience on that project was so wonderful that I wanted to take the collaboration to the next level with the ‘Featherweight’ animation.”
It’s a pretty cool result. Take flight below.