Thing of the Day
Tu Fawning put their Hearts on Hold
February 3rd 2011
THING
OF THE DAY today is Portland’s TU
FAWNING – They have a rather unique sound, they’re a fine
collective of songsmiths and multi-instrumentalists founded by Joe
Haege (from old Organ favourites 31Knots
as well as Menomena)
and Corrina Repp. The two of them released an EP ( the Secession EP, on
Polyvinyl) in 2008, and then doubled in size when long time
collaborators Toussaint Perrault and Liza Rietz joined full time last
year.
They have that hint of 31Knots in there, the solid songwriting, though the vocal styles and those rich voices take them to completely different pastures. Lush, full bodied, still with that boundary defying experimental edge, all very easy to listen to, nothing hard-boiled or difficult, just beautifully resonant songs, very much songs, torch songs, experimental lushness.
Tu Fawning’s debut album is
called Hearts on Hold,
it just came out. They play a free gig at the Old Blue Last in
London on February 17th, their only UK date of a European tour
Their MySpace is here - www.myspace.com/tufawning
Their proper website is here - www.tufawning.com
Other Tu Fawning uploads:
youtube - The Felt Sense youtube - Out Like Bats youtube - The Sad Story
Here's a 31 Knots review from the Organ archive:
Organ #269 August 7th 2008
31KNOTS
- Worried Well
(Polyvinyl) - Oh dear. This is a nightmare. I've tried to shove this in
a nice neat pigeonhole so that I can go to bed, (it is 3.00am
afterall!) it just... won't... fit. Stubborn 31Knots have been
tormenting music reviewers this way for six albums now. They're
consistently good, and Worried
Well is really good, so no getting out of it that
way.
They're a rock band, gigging and building as they roam the
American live underground, straddling indie and heaviness, strongly
song-based and easy to grasp but filled with subtle twists.
Singer/guitarist Joe Haege builds it all around lyrics of clear-cut
strangeness, balanced between straightforward, square rhymes and
imaginative twists. Everything about them is contradiction, a balancing
of opposites - big sound, big spaces, a drummer and a bassist (Jay
Pellici and Jay Winebrenner) who strip it to the bone one moment and
take it to progressive intensity at the next. Despite their
avant-guard flourishes and hints, those songs have impact that would
take them into the realms of the rather big and successful.
Intelligent, slightly strange song-based rock that doesn't sound like
Radiohead... now that's novel. Reluctantly distracting from the
distinctiveness of Haege's voice and delivery... there's a little bit
of the Police, a comparison with Muse, surprising reminders of Sparks;
previous albums have had occasional Yes moments.
Worried Well
has all the distinctive personal feel of previous 31Knots albums, the
band seem to have poured even more into the songs, though - more
creative production, new sounds, more adventures. There's a
storytelling sweep to it, possible threads of a theme. Their
tempered, grown-up kind of angst (i.e. real rather than emo
histrionics) that gets expressed with a bit of theatre, Haege revealing
his preacher side on the impressive Compass Commands,
help of female chorus and sudden juxtaposition of simple chorus and
pocket-sized prog riffage. 31Knots are easy to describe after all -
straightforward and complex, playground rhymes for complicated
adults. And... really really good. Their finest
album yet? www.polyvinylrecords.com
or www.myspace.com/31knots
