Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	85/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	A
Entertainment Weekly	B−
The Guardian
The Independent
Los Angeles Times
NME	4/10
Pitchfork Media	8.8/10
Rolling Stone
Spin	9/10

Helplessness Blues is the second studio album by Seattle, Washington–based folk band Fleet Foxes. Released on May 3, 2011 as the follow-up to their self-titled debut album,Helplessness Blues received universal acclaim from critics and was nominated for Best Folk Album for the 54th Grammy Awards. The release peaked at number 4 on the Billboard 200, the band's highest position on the chart to date. To support the album, the band embarked on a worldwide Helplessness Blues Tour.

Helplessness Blues is the band's first studio album to feature bass guitarist Christian Wargo and multi-instrumentalist Morgan Henderson. It is also the band's only album to feature drummer and backing vocalist Josh Tillman, who left the band in 2012 to pursue his solo career under the name Father John Misty.

Initially, Robin Pecknold had stated that he would have liked the album to be released in 2009; however, the band's touring schedule had caused them some setbacks. They got together to rehearse new songs in February 2009 in a rented house outside Seattle, but the sessions were mostly scrapped. As a result of those wasted sessions, the band lost $60,000 of their own money. After their tour in support of the 2008 releases ended, the band's singer-songwriter mentioned the possibility of starting to record new songs, but Josh Tillman, Fleet Foxes' drummer and co-song arranger, was scheduled to play Europe and North America all along the 2009-10 winter as part of his solo musical act. Added to this, Phil Ek, the band's producer and friend answered in an interview that he was likely to continue as the producer as Robin had already sent him some demos to start listening to. In an interview with Pitchfork Media, Pecknold stated he expected the album to be released sometime in the second half of 2010. In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Pecknold admitted that his girlfriend of five years found the stress this album placed on their relationship too much, and ended things. Upon hearing the completed album, she realized that Pecknold's efforts were worth it, and they tried to work it out. The couple has since split up.

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