Synopsis

An otherworldly animated journey unfolds across rugged landscapes populated by strange, mythical creatures. A horned animal travels through a harsh natural world, encountering danger, violence, and transformation along the way. The imagery shifts from expansive wilderness to a more surreal, symbolic realm, culminating in a chaotic confrontation between animal figures. As the music moves through its contrasting sections, the video mirrors its progression from reflective beauty to menace and finally to an intense, dissonant argument.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video accompanies Fleet Foxes' "The Shrine / An Argument," the closing track on the 2011 album "Helplessness Blues."

• The clip runs for approximately eight minutes, allowing it to follow the song's extended multi-part structure rather than condensing it into a conventional short-form video.

• Animation was handled by Sean Pecknold and Britta Johnson, with character illustrations by Stacey Rozich.

• The production used a multiplane animation setup, credited to Greg Pecknold, giving the hand-drawn imagery layered depth and movement.

• The video was produced in Portland, Oregon, and involved a compact creative team that also included art assistant Natalie Jenkins, post-production assistant Austin Wilson, producer Aaron Ball, and sound-effects artist Shervin Shaeri.

• Sub Pop released the official video in November 2011, several months after "Helplessness Blues" arrived.

• The song's final section was conceived as a musical representation of an argument. The video's increasingly frantic animal conflict gives that abstract idea a literal visual counterpart.

• The clip was widely noted for its unusual combination of nature-documentary imagery, fantasy animation, and graphic surrealism.