Gather,
Form and Fly
Hometapes
By Julia Reidy
Megafaun’s albums feel like a flocking of musical ideas
rather than a linear expression of them. Good thing for the Durham, N.C. trio,
then, that the migration it has made compositionally takes it in all kinds of
fascinating directions; ones that perhaps aren’t visible without binoculars.
From the ashes of former band DeYarmond Edison (minus member Justin Vernon, now
of Bon Iver), Megafaun took flight, releasing Bury The Square in 2007. The album won over a national audience
with its pretty soundscapes, lush vocals and backwoods instrumentation.
But sophomore release Gather,
Form and Fly cashes in that capital and compounds the interest, utilizing
more techniques than a goose has feathers. At first glance, it’s just a record
full of finger picking and pretty stacked vocals. It fiddles like Appalachian
folk, rambles like Americana and strums like acoustic rock. But beyond all
that, a strong instinct for experimentation and sound variety permeates the Gather, Form and Fly; no two songs can
be said to be the exact same style and no one song remains the same style
throughout its entire length.
From gorgeous, bright rock numbers like “Guns” to emotional
banjo folk like “Gather, Form and Fly,” Megafaun takes its time creating beauty
and letting it sit with the audience before taking the songs somewhere
completely new. “Impressions of the Past,” for example, is a piano, horn and
string section instrumental jam (think The Allman Brothers Band’s “Jessica”) that is
more pleasingly atmospheric than compositionally interesting for a while. But
then it melts into a minor, screeching B-section, and vocals finally enter at
around the five-minute mark. They’re about color and art portraits — “the truth is not
found in the hue” — and they take the tone painting aspect of the preceding song
in a very literal direction before coming to an abrupt, mid-sentence ending.
In this way Gather,
Form and Fly is consistently more than it appears to be. Megafaun’s musical
neighborhood might be a crowded place, but through determined risk-taking and
reverence to traditional genres they’ve discovered their route into the sky
above it.
Megafaun will play The
Earl August 17 with Bowerbirds and Coyote Bones. Get your tickets at Ticket Alternative.
