Monday, January 3, 2011

Megafaun - Gather Form And Fly (2009)























ARTIST`````Megafaun
ALBUM`````Gather Form And Fly
GENRE`````Experimental Country-Rock, Freak-Folk, Indie
YEAR````````2009

Why?
Megafaun sound completely lost in time, frolicking around in forests, exploring gorges and finding shady rocks to use as diving boards into hot springs. Guys from The Onion said it the best - "Megafaun fits squarely in the bearded Caucasian folkie camp, but the ethereal Gather, Form & Fly is far too extraterrestrial-sounding to be bound to this planet, much less this country. Evoking a warmly inviting yet mysteriously alien countryside terrain reminiscent of those gorgeously golden wheat fields from Terrence Malick’s Days Of Heaven, Gather, Form & Fly has a psychedelic mind & a Pentecostal heart, applying raggedly strummed banjos and woozy acoustic guitars to harmonies that swell heavenward like ghostly dust clouds."

Be sure to google the lyrics - they are excellent.

Bio
When Justin Vernon left Raleigh-by-way-of-Eau-Claire-WI indie folkers DeYarmond Edison to go on to late-'00s indie wunderkind status as Bon Iver, the remaining members of DE, Phil Cook, Brad Cook, and Joe Westerlund, carried on in North Carolina as Megafaun. With an impossible-to-pinpoint, laid back lo-fi sound incorporating Byrds-esque harmonies, elegiac folk-picking, and off-kilter instrumentation (think a rougher-around-the-edges Fleet Foxes), Megafaun earned accolades beyond their feted former bandmate. The trio gained solid enough reviews for the sparse debut disc Bury the Square in 2008; however, their sophomore release the next year, Gather, Form & Fly, on the Home Tapes label, drew raves, with high marks from the Onion AV Club and Pitchfork.

Review byStephen M. Deusner
Megafaun's songs change shape constantly-- a thrillingly mercurial quality that makes Gather, Form & Fly a headily absorbing, occasionally unsettling listen. Despite their musical wanderlust, the trio remain firmly rooted in the Appalachian foothills, enamored with folk traditions and pastoral airs.


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