Los Angeles, CA (Top40 Charts/ Dusty Ray Official Website) Megafaun have confirmed the Sept 20 release of 'Megafaun,' the follow-up to their critically acclaimed last full-length, 'Gather, Form & Fly,' which Pitchfork called "ingeniously ramshackle" in a rave review. To assign the music on 'Megafaun' a genre would be a futile gesture; the band has long been hailed for its ability to speak in the myriad tongues of American musical history, but this record creates a vernacular all its own. The 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.
Watch A Preview Here: https://bit.ly/kK6mOf
The album opens with "Real Slow," a bold and emotional statement about the group and its roots. "It's one of the anthems that define this record and maybe even our existence as a band," explains Westerlund. "Rise up early / Seize the day," they sing. "Take your time / Everyone knows / If it starts too fast / It's gonna end real slow." From there the record unfolds in a million directions, moving beyond the back porches of American music into wholly new and uncanny sonic territory, where gorgeous, earthy melodies blossom into unsettling time signatures and swirling electronic soundscapes. As The Onion AV Club put it, Megafaun is "far too extraterrestrial-sounding to be bound to this planet, much less this country."
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. SPIN raved that Megafaun's last full-length, 'Gather, Form & Fly,' was "epic," while Mojo extolled that it "provoke[s] wows and crikeys of crooked pleasure."
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.
--The-Underworld-King-Is-B.jpg)
