NC’s Megafaun Announces New Album

See promo teaser trailer, below.

By Blurt Staff

Megafaun have confirmed the Sept 20 release on Hometapes of 'Megafaun,' the follow-up to 'Gather, Form & Fly,' which BLURT reviewed thusly:

For all the talk about freak folk, new folk, roots and other permutations of traditional mores, the pure patchwork shuffle of acoustic instrumentation and back porch harmonies continues to have a difficult time piercing the modern mélange.  So it's somewhat noteworthy to find Megafaun making a studied attempt to recapture that campfire glow with a fondness for banjo, dulcimer, fiddles, aching acoustic guitars and forlorn melodies.  Where Bon Iver, Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, the Espers and Earlimart have established a tentative grasp on gothic designs, Megafaun makes the most of this vintage motif, with songs such as "Kaufman's Ballad," "The Fade," "Tides" and "The Process" harkening back to a time when amplification wasn't yet in vogue and music was procured by and for the masses. Nevertheless, Gather, Form & Fly, the trio's sophomore set, plays with that purity to some degree, washing the kaleidoscopic "Impressions of the Past" and "Darkest Hour" in a swirl of sundry effects before commencing with more earnest engagement.  So too, the emphatic blues stomp of "Solid Grown" tows the borderline between vagabond blues and a more audible angst.  Nevertheless, unadorned offerings like "The Longest Day," "Columns" and "Guns" (before its dissolve into dissonance) may be the closest things yet to those rambling hootenannies and fervent protest pleas of yesteryear.  Somewhere in the cosmos, Woody Guthrie, John Fahey and Mimi Farina are likely all nodding their heads in unanimous agreement.

The new album's 14 tracks range from raw, unhurried rock and roll to cacophonous percussive blasts, from brassy instrumental free jazz to mournful delta blues. The band--Joe Westerlund and brothers Phillip and Bradley Cook--recorded the album late last year at April Base in Fall Creek, WI, the studio of former bandmate Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), and produced it themselves along with BJ Burton.

Megafaun from Hometapes on Vimeo.

Megafaun's roots reach back to Eau Claire, WI, the hometown of all three members. With Justin Vernon they formed the band DeYarmond Edison and moved to North Carolina. That band broke up in 2006, but from its ashes rose Bon Iver and Megafaun, two of the most critically acclaimed indie projects in music today (DeYarmond Edison played a reunion show at SXSW this year). Over the course of two previous LPs and one EP, the band has toured the country with The Mountain Goats, Bowerbirds, Akron/Family, and more. 

In addition, Duke University recently commissioned Megafaun to create and perform 'Sounds of the South,' a concert based on the rural folk songs collected by ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax during his early travels. The trio reimagined the music through their own brand of experimental Americana and collaborated with Richmond's Fight the Big Bull avant-jazz ensemble, acclaimed songwriter Sharon Van Etten, and Vernon on the project, which was presented for three nights in Durham and again at Cincinnati's MusicNOW Festival to raves.

Megafaun will tour extensively this fall with dates to be announced soon.