Tonight! Faun Fables

I posted about Faun Fable's album "Transit Rider" earlier in this blog when I picked up a copy of the album at the North East Art Rock Festival this past June. It's an excellent album from a very unique band and those of you in the Baltimore area tonight have a chance of seeing the band in a very intimate setting.

Official show press release below:

Saturday Night, August 23rd, 8:00pm
The Baltimore Progressive Rock Showcases at
Orion Studios - 2903 Whittington Ave - Baltimore, 21230
present:

FAUN FABLES

with guests:

Zevious
Kevin Hufnagel
Bruce Lamont

It's getting to be showcase season again and we have two early shows to get things off to a really fantastic start! First up is FAUN FABLES, a totally unique experience that you positively will not want to miss!

I first heard of Faun Fables several years ago by picking up one of their CDs (The Transit Rider) at a Sleepytime Gorilla Museum show. Faun Fables is a four-member ensemble featuring the music of Dawn McCarthy, (vocals, guitar, pots, pans, other delightfully clinking and clanking kitchen items), Nils Frykdahl (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, on guitar and vocals, other inanimate items that can be hit with sticks), Meridith Yayanos (bass guitar, vocals, dishpans, turkey baster), and Kirana Peyton (harmonium, vocals, soup ladles and egg beaters).

As with that "other" Oakland, CA band, the art of Faun Fables includes a strong visual/theatrical component as well as brilliantly rendered innovative and thought-provoking music. You simply have to go to their MySpace page and check the video for "Words and Cake", the title cut from their just-released four-song EP, "A Table Forgotten". For fans of another much-beloved and female-fronted band I'll mention that the fourth song on that disk reminds me very much of the instrumental section of "Mother Russia" by Renaissance. Their music is often quirky, sometimes very cinematic, and always tells a story.

From an August 8th review in the New York Times:
A genuinely strange band that doesn't ride on its strangeness and become a puddle of mannerism, Faun Fables, from Oakland, Calif., has an immaculate new four-track EP, "A Table Forgotten" (Drag City). It's acoustic music, with string arrangements, nylon-string guitar, violin, harmonium, flute, and some minimal percussion on the order of hand claps, shakers, tiny bells.

Up to a point it's gothic, ritualistic folk music, with long melodies and fanciful lyrics that go to animistic places. But it also has a theremin, making the atmosphere creepier. And above all it has the clear, strong, resolute voice of Dawn McCarthy, one of the best singers we have right now. (Yes, really; and she wrote three of the four songs too.) It's musky stuff, but not rooted in any particular hippie sensibility. Anyway, it's more nomadic than hippieish; it's as if Ms. McCarthy has created her own moving principality. (Ben Ratlif, NYTimes)
http://www.faunfables.net/main_toc.html

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Opening the show will be Kevin Hufnagel, best known for his guitar work with crunch avant/prog rockers Dysrhythmia. Keven is a genuine talent on acoustic guitar, having played for almost 20 years. He'll be performing compositions from his new solo acoustic album, "Songs for the Disappeared" (due out later this year) inspired by the likes of everything from John Cage's prepared piano works, to the classical/jazz guitar stylings of Ralph Towner.
http://www.myspace.com/kevinhufnagel

Following will be saxophonist Bruce Lamont - Expansive and hypnotic atmospheres using a looper pedal and effects along with saxophones, guitar, voice, harp, and percussion. He has performed along side Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Battles, Toby Driver (Kayo Dot), OM, Daniel Higgs (Lungfish), and Lichens, as well as jammed with Stooges sax man Steve Mackay, The Akron Family, Eugene Robinson (Oxbow). In June 2007 he made his first official solo debut entitled "Feral Songs".
http://www.myspace.com/brucelamont

Finally, just before our main act we'll all be treated to the three-piece (upright bass, drums, guitar) avant jazz stylings of Zevious .... sometimes zevious plays the jazz... sometimes zevious likes to rock out... sometimes zevious plays real loud... sometimes zevious plays quiet (kind of)... sometimes zevious plays fast... mostly zevious plays fast... sometimes zevious plays too many notes...
http://www.myspace.com/zevioustrio

COVER: $15 at the door

DA RULZ: All shows start at 8:00pm unless otherwise stated. You are welcome to bring whatever liquid refreshments you care to drink, and coolers are welcome. Our shows are all-ages shows, but we do not tolerate underage drinking. We do have a few couches, stools, and chairs, but you are welcome to bring your own SMALL folding chair if you'd like. The bands typically have some merchandise to sell such as T-shirts, CDs, etc., so bring your wallet and help support the music you love! Chris Lamka, owner of Of Sound Mind, is at almost all Orion shows and offers a wide variety of hard-to-find progressive rock titles at his table near the showcase room entryway.

DRIVING DIRECTIONS: Take I-95 to exit 50A, which is Caton Ave., south. If you are coming from the south beware of the merge onto Caton Ave as there is no merge area. Take Caton to the third traffic signal, which is Washington Blvd., and turn left. Follow Washington for about a quarter mile until you approach a "U-Haul" sign on your right. Turn right, just before the sign, onto Inverness. Take Inverness to its end and turn left onto Whittington Ave. Take Whittington to its end and turn right, into our parking lot. The showcase entry is door B, on your right as you enter the lot.