LIGHT OF A VASTER DARK

FAUN FABLES is a duo from Oakland, CA, USA composed of singer-songwriter Dawn McCarthy and her life partner Nils Fryfdahl of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. No avant-garde metal to be found here though. This is pure psychedelic folk and art rock from beginning to end. This kinda reminds me of what a chamber rock band might sound like if they tried to write beautiful haunting and melodic folk songs because of the richness of many instruments on the album. Dawn sings and plays acoustic guitars and Nils also plays guitar while the remaining violin, percussion, clarinet, flute and harmonica are covered by line-up musicians.

The album is very dark and melodic. The songs for the most part are extremely well written and catchy but have unexpected twists and turns that always sound well integrated into the sound. Lyrics are quite disparate ranging from tracks like 'Housekeeper,' honoring domestic servants to Christmas inspired themes as in 'O Mary.' I find this very addictive. Some tracks stand out more than others but after repeated listens many more start to sink in. Although this album is a little uneven with my favorite tracks being towards the beginning, there are enough strong tracks to recommend this as a unique dark folk experience.