Fleet Foxes look set to return for a huge year in 2017 – after teasing new material and a massive European tour date being revealed.

The ‘White Winter Hymnal’ alt-folk heroes have not releases an album since 2011’s ‘Helplessness Blues’, but now the band have shared a mysterious photo of a volcano on their Facebook page. The image is a historical photograph of the eruption of Mount Tokachi on the island of Hokkaido in Japan, dated 1962 and signed Hiroshi Hamaya.

When one fan commented to ask if this meant a new album, the band replied: “Alllllmost done.”


Not only that, but Spanish website Binaural reported that news of the band returning to perform at the festival Bilbao BBK was leaked on radio next year, joining previously announced headliners Depeche Mode. Frontman Robin Peckhold then seemed to confirm the news when replying to fans on Instagram:

It’s safe to assume that the new record and tour won’t feature former drummer Father John Misty, after Peckhold revealed that their relationship with Josh Tillman had ‘fully deteriorated.

“Sadly, my relationship with Josh was fully deteriorated by that point,” he said. “We had really gone separate roads by 2010 but remained in the project together to honor our recording and touring commitments and to not let any fans down who might be coming to our shows. I wish that things had gone differently. Making sure everyone involved is feeling good and that relations are strong is a big priority for me now.”

Peckhold has long maintained that the third Fleet Foxes album would be likely to drop in 2017, after shared the track ‘Swimming’ which he said was ‘not the vibe’ of the upcoming record:


https://soundcloud.com/robin-pecknold/swimming