Fleet Foxes officially release Joni Mitchell and The Strokes covers

Fleet Foxes have officially released their two live covers of Joni Mitchell‘s ‘Hejira’ and The Strokes‘ ‘Under Control’.

The band covered both of the songs during their live shows. They performed ‘Hejira’ earlier this year in Los Angeles, while ‘Under Control’ was performed last summer in New York with singer-songwriter Uwade as a special guest.

“Last summer we were honored to have the incredible vocalist and songwriter Uwade Akhere open for us on tour,” Pecknold said in a press release discussing the cover of ‘Under Control’.

“One thing we all bonded over backstage was a shared love of the Strokes—hearing Uwa’s voice echoing down the halls as she sang ‘The End Has No End’ or ‘Reptilia’ was always a highlight of the day. Considering this, I thought she might get a kick out of singing ‘Under Control’ with us and the Westerlies at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens, so we pulled it together at soundcheck and asked her—it was amazing! She ruled it,” he added.

Notably, Blood Orange also performed a cover of the song in the same city and the same weekend as the Fleet Foxes cover.

Speaking of the Joni Mitchell cover, Pecknold added: “My father built bass guitars and played in bands in his twenties and thirties in the Northwest; his dream was to be Joni Mitchell’s bassist, like the great Jaco Pastorius.”

He continued: “Right before our surprise show with Joanna Newsom in March, I bought back for him one of the fretless basses he had made in the ’80s, and I thought it would be sweet for us to play ‘Hejira’ together, on the same bill as Joanna, the Joni of our time. It was also an honor to be joined by Daniel Rossen for this, one of the greatest musicians of the last 20 years. Thank you, Dan and Dad!”

Both songs are available via Bandcamp.

In other news, Fleet Foxes are currently on their 2023 North American ‘Shore’ tour. Visit here for any last minute tickets.

Their latest LP release was 2020’s ‘Shore’. In a four-star review of the album, NME shared: “it’s the record Fleet Foxes fans were hoping for after the sheer brilliance of the first two albums. It’s maturer in sound and ideas, but retains all the hallmarks of what made Fleet Foxes so great in the first place: rich and studied folk compositions, unrivalled harmonies, stories that strike to the core of nature and human existence, and a dedication to art that emotionally lifts you off this planet.”