Faun Fables - Born of the Sun album review: tremulously lovely Californian freak-folk

While the band name directs the listener to music that was born in the age of Aquarius, there is more charm than winsomeness about Californian freak-folk band, Faun Fables.

Primarily a vehicle (we're guessing a serviceable campervan, festooned with psychedelic swirls) for songwriter Dawn McCarthy, the band has drifted along for the past 15 years, running a parallel career in outsider music and avant garde theatre (their 2006 album, The Transit Rider, was based on a performance art show that involved smashing shellac records with mallets).

Born of the Sun is somewhat more conventional, with McCarthy and Nils Frykdahl summoning up the spirits of very early Incredible String Band and even earlier Fairport Convention. The result, while a tad scrambled, is very often tremulously lovely.

[ faunfables.com ]