erasing clouds
 

Megafaun, Gather, Form & Fly

review by dave heaton

Megafaun strikes some crazy balance between sounding new and old, and comes out sounding fresher for it. They play banjo music that rings of the ages, and then morph quickly into something either wilder/more hectic (think chanting, percussion, switching styles at surprising moments) or more placid in a modern-classical way. Listen to “Impressions of the Past” for the clearest example of how many different things they can be up to at once. It seems a sunny pop instrumental at first, a stroll on a sunny day, but it breaks down and gets weird, resembling both carousel music and Philip Glass. Then, eventually, the vocals come in, singing of how our impressions of the past become the past, how perspective is the truth. Well, Megafaun have their own interesting perspective. On Gather, Form & Fly they put forth their impressions of the past, present, and future, and it’s one exciting ride.

Megafaun has toured with both Bowerbirds and Akron/Family; their music reminds me of the former in its attention to the natural world, of the latter in its capacity for wild surprise. Gather, Form & Fly is epic in feeling, and length (a double-LP on vinyl). It starts with some sad, pretty banjo music, an instrumental and then a visceral song about death, followed by a rolling-along number about a fading photo of someone who’s passed away. Later they get into group sing-alongs, into ragged hooting and hollering, and a straight-up gorgeous folk-song duet (“The Longest Day”). They sing of darkness, the wind, the sky, and memory, the slipperiness and impact of it all.

They have a way of making the saddest songs turn hopeful, of making the most peaceful songs get screwed-up and messy, of making ambient sounds and sing-songy chanting part of the same action. They’re doing everything but holding it all together seamlessly. As they sing repeatedly during one moment that I find both sorrowful and deeply hopeful, “We had no choice / we had to try.”

{www.home-tapes.com}


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