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2LP
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DC 262LP
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"Happy 20th birthday to Family Album, the third recording of Faun Fables and the first one released on Drag City. These songs belong to sons and daughters, entwined and orphaned, domesticated and feral; to all the family vines unraveling from a ball of yarn. In this family album, runaways graze the wild together, a mother finds her courage playing the piano, dogs become thieves and wolves, and a son is taken too soon. Fourteen-year-old nymphs sit dangerously at the crossroads, a younger brother tries to find his place, packs of girls defeat fear with a march, and the nightly adventures of the household mouse are spied upon."
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2LP
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DC 274LP
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"Mother Twilight is the second Faun Fables album. It has since been noted by Scottish author R.J. Stewart as a work containing true artifacts of the oral underworld tradition. Dawn and Nils made a hand-assembled first pressing and peddled it to nearly every bar and rural hall across North America from 2001 to 2003. Drag City reissued the CD in 2004. Things are glowing outside, enough to bring any sun worshiper in for the night. But you must remain outside and begin walking. It'll prepare you for the night, which otherwise comes as a chilling surprise. If you pay attention this time, maybe you'll understand why you're becoming invisible. When your memory began, it wasn't startling, wasn't a mistake. It came out of an old, dark and familiar thing, like a storyteller, like Twilight."
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CD
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DC 371CD
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"Out of the glittering caverns of the soul crawls the newest album from Faun Fables. Light Of A Vaster Dark is a vibrant collection of songs and sounds excavated by songwriter Dawn McCarthy and supported by steadfast collaborator Nils Frykdahl of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Light Of A Vaster Dark sparkles with fear, wonder and playfulness, elements that have been part of the tapestry of Faun Fables' music woven slowly over the course of five previous records. They have stood at the fork in the road where the myths of men and women meet the realities of their days, and with each album they go further down these paths. Light of A Vaster Dark meditates on the cyclical nature of light and darkness as revealed in the seasons of life, and in the beautiful power of steadfast and humble tales of housekeeping, immigrant pioneers and a civic parade. Sonically, the album is full of life, reflecting the new arrivals in the world of Dawn and Nils with fresh sounds. The sound of Faun Fables, always grounded in traditional instrumentation, bursts with color but stands smoothly united as a whole. Amidst the solid, elemental structure of McCarthy and Frykdahl's guitars and eclectic percussion whirl the violins of Meredith Yayanos and the vocals and multi-instrumental touches of Kirana Peyton; a lush continuation of their collaborative work with them on the 2008 EP release A Table Forgotten."
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LP
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DC 371LP
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CD
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DC 370CD
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"A Table Forgotten is the first taste in an ongoing series of projects by Dawn McCarthy on a theme that's been largely unexplored in recent times: the age-old practices of tending a home and its immediate impact upon our day-to-day lives. It is an invitation to return to our kitchens and homes with reverence, to enjoy a largely overlooked sanctuary in the modern age. After the Faun Fables record release of The Transit Rider in 2006, Dawn was invited to be Artist-In-Residence with Idyllwild Art Academy's Interdisciplinary students in the San Jaciento Mountains of southern California, where she began delving into this longstanding theme of interest. Drawing from her own personal experience and research into historical patterns, plus the students' concerns about family and home, a musical theater performance debuted on the Idyllwild Arts campus in May 2007. Since that production, she has continued developing and performing this material plus other new songs with the Faun Fables band. Within this theme, the music is largely shaped by the spirit, tools and movement of physical kitchen work- and by dimensions of housekeeping that are positive, pivotal, even revolutionary. The tools of basic chores become instrumentation and choreography: the opening track 'With Words and Cake' takes place at a table with bells to ring, kettles to whistle and dishes and utensils to hit. But along with McCarthy & long-time collaborator Nils Frykdahl's guitars, percussion and wind instruments, the recording features the talents of new members, violinist Meredith Yayanos, and multi-instrumentalist Kirana Peyton on harmonium, vocals, and the Irish bodhran drum. This new release is also imbibed with the additional delightful sounds and manipulations of Matt Waldron (Irr.App.(ext), Nurse With Wound) who co-produced the EP with McCarthy and Frykdahl."
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CD
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DC 274CD
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"Dawn and Nils made a hand-assembled, first pressing of Mother Twilight (self released 2001) that's mostly been available at Faun Fables live shows. They peddled it to nearly every bar and rural hall across North America from 2001- 2003, in the course of five national tours and one European trip. This re-issue of Mother Twilight is in a revised packaging design, making it available and distributed to the wider world."
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CD
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DC 262CD
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"This is the third recording of Faun Fables, the experimental balladry shaped by Oakland-based artist Dawn McCarthy. Her work unfolds in a visceral combination of music and theatricality she calls songtelling. The main instrument is her cathartic voice, framed by harmonically adventurous guitar. On this album, she is joined by Nils Frykdahl of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, adding a bestiary of vocals, instrumentation and song collaboration. Family Album is another prize for fans of traditional folk music, the occult, cabaret, art rock, medieval prose and all the wonders of the world."
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