MEGAFAUN
Megafaun, which I misread as Mega”fun” several times last week (and almost, live, while on the air), are a North Carolina based band that call the Research Triangle home. Already an indie bedrock (insert your favorite Chapel Hill/Raleigh/Durham band here), the Triangle appears to be having a musical renaissance of late, and Megafaun are certainly a part of it. While it may have been the band’s connection to Bon Iver (former bandmates) that initially caught my eye, it was “Find Your Mark’s” seventies-leaning, expansive, pop sensibilities that drew me in.
Megafaun, which I misread as Mega”fun” several times last week (and almost, live, while on the air), are a North Carolina based band that call the Research Triangle home. Already an indie bedrock (insert your favorite Chapel Hill/Raleigh/Durham band here), the Triangle appears to be having a musical renaissance of late, and Megafaun are certainly a part of it. While it may have been the band’s connection to Bon Iver (former bandmates) that initially caught my eye, it was “Find Your Mark’s” seventies-leaning, expansive, pop sensibilities that drew me in.
Appalachian excitation
The meeting of composer Arnold Dreyblatt and psych-folk trio Megafaun shouldn’t be seen as unlikely just because it’s cross-generational, or even (arguably) cross-genre. Such categorizations have to be set aside before taking in their Appalachian Excitation. Born in New York in 1953, Dreyblatt came up under such lauded experimental groundbreakers as Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros and La Monte Young, obtaining a Master’s degree in composition from Wesleyan University. Now based in Berlin, where h…
Bury The Square
From the vibrant Southern quasi-capital of Durham emerge Megafaun, wearing earnestness across the chest and abstraction along the sleeves. They pour forth dulcet harmonies, as seeking vocals tug banjo lines up the Appalachian mountains; redemptive noise soaks everything, like thick air wafting from the Atlantic. Clawhammer banjo and strummed acoustics lock and roll with electric guitars and electronic textures. They realize that folk implies deep, personal, intense expression, whether the instru…