BORN OF THE SUN

'Faun Fables' is a musical project originally centered around Dawn McCarthy. After her first album under this name, she was noticed by another musician by the name of Nils Frykdahl (from 'Idiot Flesh', 'Sleepytime Gorilla Museum' and 'Free Salamander Exhibit'), who was impressed with the music she was performing. The two have been together ever since with McCarthy doing most of the vocals and other instruments with Frykdahl doing occasional vocals and other instruments. Before this album, there were other musicians in the band, but on this album, 'Born of the Sun', all instruments and vocals are done by the pair.

'Born of the Sun' is mostly a set of original songs composed by the pair. Several traditional folk instruments are used along with occasional rock instruments. For the most part, however, the sound is acoustic and well produced. Even though it is acoustic, there are several parts for many various instruments which keeps things varied and interesting throughout, even though there is very little percussion throughout the album. The sound is also a bit dark, similar to 'Woven Hand', but the theme is more of a pagean theme, not a religious theme like 'Woven Hand'.

Dawn's vocals are very beautiful, with a sultry atmosphere that make them extremely attractive and easy to listen to. At times, they are harmonized, or joined by Nils deep vocals, however, he keeps them clean, not dirty as he occasionally does in SGM. The music is beautiful also, well orchestrated and mostly simple, yet not as simple as most folk music, as there are some really nice and unique passages throughout. The music is quite organic. The overall feel is that of 'Fairport Convention', but they are also not afraid to go beyond that safe sound and venture into some stranger territory, but the music is usually quite lovely. However, things can go off the rails from time to time as Nils does get a little more aggressive on 'Ta Nasza Mlodosc' when he gets into 'character' on the track, yet he still uses restraint compared to his other projects, 'Wild Kids Rant' has some craziness that echoes 'Swans' more off kilter songs and a few others. But, its also nice to have a few surprises to keep things interesting, and it makes the serene and pastoral even more effective as in the beautiful tracks 'Goodbye', 'YDUN' and 'O My Stars'.

Overall, this is another great project that is completely different from other projects Nils has been involved in and also one that showcases Dawn's beautiful vocals and instrumental styles. It is a definite band and album to listen to, but just know that the sounds are very folkish and carry the theme of witchery, but not to an overbearing extent.