By: Michael Madavi
Artist: Faunts
Title: Feel.Love.Thinking.Of.
Label: Friendly Fire Recordings
Release Date: 2.17.09
UPC: 844185024792
Territories: World
“With its effervescent guitars, mathematic loops and synthesizers, surging drums, and seemingly nomadic bass lines, Feel.Love.Thinking.Of., the second full-length from Canadian up-and-comers Faunts, is both more ambitious in its conception and more focused in its execution than anything the band has done before.”
In their first album, the five members of Faunts managed to achieve a potent and tangible landscape with their music, capturing some of their native Edmonton, Alberta’s cold and expansive scenery without feeling hopeless and down. In fact, the band’s tracks seem to add a filling warmth to their musical fields, as if they take you to a beautiful and vast locale but give you a comforting winter coat and personally lead you through. They use a unique formula to create their shoegaze, blending an at-times psychedelic guitar with the swells and echoes of new-wave synth, even occasionally hinting towards late-70′s rock. This isn’t your typical lush and ambient shoegaze band; Faunts have something new going. You could compare them to certain parts of other bands: the swelling walls of sound created by label-mates Asobi Seksu, the enchanted optimism of certain Smiths songs, Brian Eno’s gentle breezes from his groundbreaking Ambient 1: Music for Airports, Erik Satie’s calming touches of piano, an Uber-distorted guitar from My Bloody Valentine; yet they have combined these elements to create an uncommon and individual sound.
The band is clearly capable of creating a variety of omnipresent, encompassing musical landscapes that surround their listener with unique and powerful moments. Whether they create down-tempo, calming waves to gently float you forward or intense thrusts of distorted, passionate mixtures of guitar and synthesizer to engulf you in a powerful energy that feels like it came from some genuine, untapped source, Faunts clearly demonstrates an ability to create soundtracks for the most emotional and memorable experiences in life. This quality to compliment powerful narratives was properly utilized to anchor the 2007 Bioware RPG title, Mass Effect as the game’s final musical piece for an unarguably epic ending. Faunts write in their Friendly Fire Records bio that they hope to, “create perfect music for the twilight hour between wake and sleep.” Take a hint from the boys and throw them on your headphones as you lie down to sleep; if your dreams end up like their albums, you’re in for quite a moving slumber.
Their latest album, Feel. Love. Thinking. Of., takes their dreamy, individual sound to the next level by further emphasizing the elements which make Faunts unique. The album was written while the band toured across America, drawing from the eclectic experiences found on the road and unique landscapes and metropolises found in their neighboring country. Brothers Steve and Tim Batke’s vocal tracks are now more present and important to the songs. Rather than using his smooth, round voice to add another layer of sound to their music as he did in past records, Steve Batke explores more territory as the band’s vocalist, seemingly assuming a front man role. The synths have also evolved: no longer employed primarily to wrap the songs in that warm ambient blanket, they now take a stronger new-wave inspiration, becoming in certain tracks the lead instrument in their melodies while the guitar is used more to coat their musical canvas with a background, then switching places for the next song. This, in combination with more aggressive, upbeat drumming and drum machines makes many songs peppy, even danceable which is hard to say for any other shoegaze, post-rock band. They feel more like an incarnation of New Order with sweet and charming vocals than their previous sound. Perhaps they learned from the release of their Remix album that when one takes the best elements from their previous work and adds a spark from more upbeat, dance oriented music, a fun result occurs. Fans of their beautiful night-drive soundtrack songs will still be pleased with “So Far Away” while those seeking to relive 80′s synth-pop abandon will love the album’s title track. Faunts has always created music that is clearly emotional and moving; they have simply worked with new emotions for their latest LP, which can only be described as healthy and successful. The listening experience is still overall pleasurable and inspiring, but through a different vein. While their previous albums may be best suited for putting on your headphones and having a moment to yourself, Feel. Love. Thinking. Of. is something you can have a great time to with others. Faunts retains their individuality while moving to a new sound with the same pleasing result.
Download a Faunts PromoTrack after the jump…
