Faunts

Feel. Love. Thinking. Of.

(Friendly Fire)

Record Review by Alex Pudlin

Edmonton’s Faunts waste no time shooting their third full-length album Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. into orbit. The title track starts softly with a muted bassline and synth drones as the plaintive vocal melody drops in and is soon joined by layer upon layer of spacey keyboards, percussion and bass growls. It’s almost a mission statement, laying out the full range of sonic explorations that will grace the rest of the album.

Faunts’ brand of electro-pop differs from other recent incarnations of the genre, such as their Canadian brethren The Junior Boys, in that the Faunts are a full-blooded five-piece band. No two guys with their synths and Pro Tools here. Thus, each musician’s focus on a single instrument helps to give The Faunts’ sound a rich and complex sheen.  A careful listen to the first half of Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. reveals a band of perfectionists, measuring carefully nuanced guitar, bass, drum and keyboard back-and-forth with the pleasures of catchy pop songs.  Whether it’s the polyrhythmic pulse of “Input” or the shoegaze sweep of “It Hurts Me all the Time,” Faunts are extremely precise with their music, yet they never sacrifice the accessibility of each song.

Faunts are best when they rely on the vocals, which serve as much needed pop glue to the more ethereal musical elements. “Alarmed/Lights” is a near-perfect example of the musicians leaving just the right amount of air in the music. A solemn minor-key guitar line mixes with looped staccato beats and droning keyboards as the vocals help emphasize the song’s glorious empty space. The track builds until the live drums come crashing into the remaining space and the song soars up to the stratosphere. It’s easily the highlight of the album.

On the other extreme however, is the vocal-less “Das Malefitz,” which sounds like a mix of 80’s horror music and the sort of electronic New Age crap that actors stretch to before rehearsals. As is often the case with highly mathematical music, when the equation of the sound becomes more important than the songs themselves, the music runs the risk of sounding cold and un-dynamic.  Like King Crimson before them, Faunts often dangerously toe the line between sophisticated rock and soulless drivel.  The lack of vocals on “Das Malefitz” stresses the limitations of meticulousness. The sound feels so programmed that it may have come from a computer, not five human musicians. Fortunately, Feel.Love. contains only a handful of moments like this. The rest of the time, Faunts are creating music that’s equally atmospheric, catchy and fully-realized, making Feel.Love a mostly successful mix of tuneful songwriting and intricate musicianship.