Megafaun make me want to move to Durham, North Carolina where I imagine my life would involve frolicking around in forests, exploring gorges and finding shady rocks to use as diving boards into hot springs.  Brothers Brad and Phil Cook, along with Joe Westerlund make music that’s best served gathered in a circle lit by the moon and campfire while you “sing to each other like friends telling stories,” as their buddies Akron/Family might say.

These young men create the perfect fusion of upbeat rhythms, freak folk, and super-experimental psych rock. But, quite honestly, their kickass beards were what won over the crowd instantly August 4th at The Echo opening for Bowerbirds. The night’s set was drawn almost entirely from their new album, Gather, Form & Fly, which Phil Cook informed me was influenced in part by the death of his grandfather. But their energy comes off as anything but mournful:  it’s spontaneous enough for fans, inclusive enough for first-timers, and funny from the ridiculous banter and shit-talking between songs. The Cook brothers even jumped off stage, bouncing and goofing off with the grinning crowd. They’re happy to be playing in LA. Brad Cook pours his heart out to the audience revealing that he is the world’s biggest Lakers fan and spent all of Tuesday loitering at Staples Center. Subsequently he ended up “dusting his bank account on Lakers swag” the next day.

I’m beaming because they are beaming. It feels like they’re family. I grab the Captain’s arm and squeeze so tight as to let out some form of pent up aggression in the realization that they are about to rock my world for the next thirty minutes. This is my second time seeing Megafaun, and what is surprising about their live performance compared to their album is how much their most somber and soft songs make you want to dance. And dance HARD.

Charming as hell, in that “mountain-man-please-keep-me-warm-baby” way, they sing each song, each harmony, each note tender and blissful, mixing standard song structures with noise freakouts. They won us over immediately with “The Fade.” It plays like a happy and upbeat declaration of death and explains our minds slowly and regrettably let memories slide. But they’re smiling, and so I know everything is going to be OK.

Phil paces the title track “Gather, Form & Fly” with banjo rhythms, though his fingertips pluck the strings so softly you would think the mere touch was an accident. This fades dirty and raw when Joe Westerlund transitioned from thinking out loud with the crowd to belting out “Been a long time since I’ve spoke to an extent, reflecting on the past and the roots of intent,” emphasizing each word like he’s almost pissed off in a cute way. Then the Cook brothers join in on the vocals and  funky riffs during  “Columns.”

The highlight of the evening was when the trio engaged in free form noise experimentation for three-or-so minutes at the beginning of “The Darkest Hour,” thereafter belting out in unison, “I have been wallowing inside the darkest hour.” Their lips are nearly a foot from the microphone, which gives the harmonies a distant and faded sound. But Megafaun is anything but withdrawn from us.

For their last song, the trio formed together unplugged at the front of the stage for, “Tides.” The song sounds different from the album version in the most familiar way possible. They sang their last words with eyes closed, chins up and beards glowing. It was beautiful.

Enjoy the pics.

“The Group”

Tags: Bowerbirds, Megafaun, The Echo

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 8th, 2009 at 12:55 pm and is filed under Concerts, Photos, TSS Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.