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MEGAFAUN

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Megafaun

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‘Megafaun’, the follow-up to Megafaun’s critically acclaimed, 'Gather, Form & Fly' was recorded at April Base in Fall Creek, the studio of former bandmate Justin Vernon (Bon Iver). Joe Westerlund and brothers Phillip and Bradley Cook have long been hailed for their diverse musical conversations but their new recording creates a unique language all its own.

The album's 14 tracks range from raw, unhurried rock & roll to cacophonous percussive blasts, from brassy instrumental free jazz to mournful delta blues. They move beyond the back porches of Americana into wholly new and uncanny sonic territory, where gorgeous, earthy melodies blossom into unsettling time signatures and swirling electronic soundscapes.

Megafaun's roots reach back to Eau Claire, WI, USA the hometown of all three members. With Justin Vernon they formed the band DeYarmond Edison and when that band broke up in 2006 Bon Iver and Megafaun rose from its ashes, two of the most acclaimed indie projects in music today. Over the course of two previous LPs and one EP, the band has toured the United States & Europe with The Mountain Goats, Bowerbirds, Akron/Family, and more. Mojo raved about 'Gather, Form & Fly,' saying that it "provoke[s] wows and crikeys of crooked pleasure."

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Megafaun

Gather, Form & Fly

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Megafaun, was created by Joe Westerlund and brothers Brad and Phil Cook from the ashes of DeYarmond Edison (the group they had formed with their long-time friend Justin 'Bon Iver' Vernon). On "Gather, Form & Fly" they've reinvented traditional American folk music, combining acoustic instruments and mountain harmonies with radically alien elements inspired by anything from free jazz to 50s experimental electronics. They're part of that rare crop of young artists driven by an unquenchable thirst for a wide range of sounds and styles. Pick a song at random, and you'll hear delicate Appalachian banjo figures, tumbling Steve Reich pianos, sumptuous multi-part harmonies or bracing, string-scraping dissonance. That everything fits together in the context of a beautiful thirteen-track suite is evidence of the unique mixture of the songcraft and improvisational spirit that Megafaun have grown to command. "Gather, Form & Fly" can be described as an ode to death, love, musical history (from blues to musique concrète), community, tradition, melody and experimentation. Or, more simply, as a magnificent album of melodic folk music, strong and original.

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