Cracking open the shrink-wrap on this Seattle quintet’s debut EP, I thought I smelled something odd. It was a coincidence, but I wouldn’t have objected if Sub Pop had decided to soak the digipak with patchouli oil. Fleet Foxes found instant acclaim for their delicate vocal harmonies, and you can definitely hear Crosby Stills Nash and Young’s rustic influence in songs like the swooning “Drops in the River” as sitar drones give way to an intoxicating chorus punctuated by bursts of twanging guitars. But when you try to drift down the river, it’s easy to get caught on the branches — namely Robin Pecknold’s nonsensical lyrics, the fact that those harmonies are frequently out-of-tune (read: indie) and the exceedingly drippy, Walden-esque liner notes by “Thomas Jefferson.” You know you shouldn’t, but at some points on Sun Giant it’s tempting to throw the cooing baby out with the Woodstock-mud-clogged bathwater.

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