"White Winter Hymnal" is the first single from Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes are a folk rock band which formed in Seattle, Washington. They are signed to the Sub Pop and Bella Union record labels. The band came to prominence in 2008 with the release of their second EP, Sun Giant, and their debut full length album Fleet Foxes...

's debut 2008 self-titled album

Fleet Foxes (album)

Fleet Foxes is the eponymous debut studio album by the Portland, Oregon-based band Fleet Foxes. It was released on June 3, 2008, in the United States and June 9 in the United Kingdom. The album debuted at #11 on the UK album charts, eventually peaking at #3, and on June 26, 2008, it debuted in...

. Released by European label Bella Union

Bella Union

Bella Union is an independent record label that was started up by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie in 1997.After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twins decided to take a step towards independence and started up the Bella Union record label, through which they...

 on July 21, 2008, the single was issued on 7" vinyl

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 as well as digital MP3

MP3

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

 format. The B-side

A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

 is the non-album track "Isles".

Critical reception

Time

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

critic Josh Tyrangiel

Josh Tyrangiel

Josh Tyrangiel is a journalist, and editor of Bloomberg Businessweek. He joined the magazine following its acquisition by Bloomberg L.P. in December 2009. Prior to joining Bloomberg Businessweek, Tyrangiel was deputy managing editor of TIME magazine and managing editor of TIME.com...

 named this the #5 song of 2008. Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

 ranked it the #2 song of 2008 and #66 on their decade end list.

Covers

This song was covered by Sonos on the album Sonosings.

In 2010, the song was parodied by The Fringemunks

The Fringemunks

The Fringemunks are a music group created by Seattle musician David Wu in 2008 consisting of three "cloned" anthropomorphic chipmunks: Feebo, Notchy and Pie. They are known mostly for recapping all episodes of Fox television series Fringe with song parodies...

 to recap Fringe

Fringe (TV series)

Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...

episode 2.20, "Northwest Passage".

External links

• "White Winter Hymnal" official music video (directed by Sean Pecknold)