I’ve been meaning to write about this album for some time – I’ve been enjoying it for the better part of a year, and it seems like the magical buzz tornado has simply passed this wonderful band by.

Megafaun are a roots/folk/Americana/whateveryouwanttoaddtothislist band. Once upon a time these members were in a band called Deyarmond Edsion with a chap called Justin Vernon, who is now better known as Bon Iver. “Ooh!” I hear the crowd remark.

Apparently that band became defunct and created a little wreckage in the process, but the process did what it did and here we are talking about Megafaun.

These guys aren’t looking to capture the indie folk/rock market with 4 minute strum sessions, this is to be sure. Their album Bury The Square only has 6 tracks yet it clocks in at nearly 39 minutes – the song structures are open ended, the sounds are organic and upfront while having a real sense of inventiveness and experimentalism.

At its core, these guys specialise in a very honest brand of Americana. You’ll hear banjos, fiddles, the twang of a southern electric and epic three-part harmonies – but then you’ll hear some experiments with tape manipulations and some absolutely gorgeous mix trickery. All of it sounds like they’re simply doing what interests them, but it always seems to work and do the right thing by the songs.

The album starts with “Find Your Mark” (mp3 below) – it starts off as an accapella, moves onto a low key nylon string picking pattern with some vocals and gradually builds up into an honest-to-goodness rocker. The attention to detail is immaculate throughout. Elsewhere there’s an old time singalong run through a blender (“Tired And Troubled”) and a song that could be an old spiritual (“His Robe”). There are two gorgeous ballads (“Where You Belong” and “Drains”), and the somewhat snide, rootsy rocker “Lazy Suicide”.

I recommend this album highly – it’s been a pleasure to listen to all year, and I think you may well love it too.

Listen:

• Find Your Mark (mp3)
• Lazy Suicide (mp3)

(thanks Stereogum!)