Megafaun
Bury the Square
[Radium/Table of the Elements]

The bearded harmonizers in Megafaun got quite a bit of attention when they toured the country last year, opening for Akron/Family. These North Carolina boys, with their furry faces, banjos and ethereal vocals have a serious Southern Gothic streak running through their songs, and most of the numbers on Bury the Square sound as if they’d be an appropriate soundtrack for a backwoods funeral. While the instrumentation is often quite sparse, it’s also quite overwhelming, due to the effective simplicity of circular, semi-droney passages capped off with dynamic three-part vocals. The 11-minute “Where We Belong” is the album’s obvious centerpiece, as it uses all of its extensive running time to fully expand from a simple piano passage into sonic swamp of overdriven guitars and chiming feedback ... only to collapse in on itself. It’s un-self-conscious Americana, performed by musicians with enough respect for rural music’s history to use it as a jumping-off point for something extraordinary indeed.