Megafaun

{{Short description|American psychedelic folk band}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox musical artist | image = Megafaun logo.png | image_size = | image_upright = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = Megafaun logo designed by [[Aaron Draplin]] | alias = | origin = [[Durham, North Carolina]] | genre = [[Psychedelic folk]] | discography = | years_active ={{Start date|2008}}–{{End date|2012}} | label = | publishers = | spinoffs = | spinoff_of = | current_members = | past_members = {{plainlist| * Brad Cook * [[Phil Cook (musician)|Phil Cook]] * Joe Westerlund }} | website = {{Official URL}} | module = | module2 = | module3 = }} '''Megafaun''' is an American [[psychedelic folk]] band based in [[Durham, North Carolina|Durham]], [[North Carolina]].<ref name="AAS">Mongillo, Peter (2010) "Megafaun relaxes into headlining slot", ''[[Austin American-Statesman]]'', April 27, 2010, p. D02</ref>

==History== Brothers Brad Cook (bass, guitar) and [[Phil Cook (musician)|Phil Cook]] (keyboards) are from [[Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin]], and Joe Westerlund (percussion) is from [[Eau Claire, Wisconsin]]. They first met at the [[H.O.R.D.E.]] festival in 1997, and played together in various combinations, including in [[DeYarmond Edison]] with [[Justin Vernon]].<ref name="Jarnow">Jarnow, Jesse (2009) "[http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/megafauns-gather-form-and-fly/Content?oid=1216628 Megafaun's ''Gather, Form & Fly'']", ''[[Independent Weekly]]'', July 15, 2009, retrieved 2011-05-27</ref> After that band broke up in 2006, Vernon went on to record a solo project ''[[For Emma, Forever Ago]]'' as [[Bon Iver]], and Westerlund and Brad and Phil Cook formed Megafaun.

Megafaun's first release was ''Bury the Square'' in 2008, on which the band were described as "[doing] away with Edison's polite experimentation in favor of full-bore concrète music, harsh noise salvos, and wild free-jazz interventions".<ref name="Howe">Howe, Brian (2008) "[http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12169-bury-the-square/ Megafaun ''Bury the Square'']", [[Pitchfork Media]], September 9, 2008, retrieved 2011-05-27</ref> The group's second album, ''Gather, Form & Fly'', was released in 2009 on the Hometapes label. It was described by [[Pitchfork Media]] as "a headily absorbing, occasionally unsettling listen",<ref name="Deusner">Deusner, Stephen M. (2009) "[http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13223-gather-form-fly/ Megafaun ''Gather, Form & Fly'']", [[Pitchfork Media]], July 24, 2009, retrieved 2011-05-27</ref> and by [[Drowned in Sound]] as "a tapestry of sound collages and a freedom with form which creates a richly textured whole".<ref name="Perry">Perry, Kevin E.G. (2009) "[http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14761/reviews/4138185 Megafaun ''Gather, Form and Fly''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615024448/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14761/reviews/4138185 |date=2010-06-15 }}", [[Drowned in Sound]], October 19, 2009, retrieved 2011-05-27</ref> A third album, ''Heretofore'', was released in 2010.<ref name="Thurston">Thurston, Jason "[http://www.allmusic.com/artist/megafaun-p1020348/biography Megafaun Biography]", [[Allmusic]], retrieved 2011-05-27</ref> The self-titled ''Megafaun'' was released in 2011.

Producer [[Nick Sanborn]] played bass with Megafaun.

Megafaun has toured with [[The Mountain Goats]], [[Bowerbirds (band)|Bowerbirds]],<ref name="Jarnow" /> [[Akron/Family]], and in April 2012, The Drive-by Truckers, Damien Jurado (August 2012), among others.

The band released its first music video, produced by the art collective Sirocco Research Labs, to promote the single "Carolina Days" on [[Pitchfork.tv]] during the spring of 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://siroccoresearchlabs.com/2011/04/megafaun-music-video-launched-on-pitchfork/ |title=Megafaun Music Video Launched on Pitchfork « Sirocco Research Labs |accessdate=2011-09-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306162954/http://siroccoresearchlabs.com/2011/04/megafaun-music-video-launched-on-pitchfork/ |archivedate=2012-03-06 }}</ref>

They played with [[Arnold Dreyblatt]] at the third annual [[Hopscotch Music Festival]] in [[Raleigh, North Carolina]], which took place September 6–8, 2012.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hopscotchmusicfest.com/band/arnold-dreyblatt-and-megafaun/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421185835/http://hopscotchmusicfest.com/band/arnold-dreyblatt-and-megafaun/|url-status=dead|title=Hopscotch Music Festival Lineup|archivedate=April 21, 2012}}</ref>

In October 2012, Megafaun announced on their website that they were going on indefinite hiatus "to re-tool the shed, so to speak."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://megafaun.com/post/32668510618/see-yall-in-the-spring |title=Megafaun |access-date=2013-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724074511/http://megafaun.com/post/32668510618/see-yall-in-the-spring |archive-date=2013-07-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Discography== ;Albums * ''Bury the Square'' (2008), Table of the Elements * ''Gather, Form & Fly'' (2009), Hometapes * ''Heretofore'' (2010), Hometapes * ''Megafaun'' (2011), Hometapes

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.facebook.com/megafaun/ Megafaun]

[[Category:Northern Spy Records artists]] [[Category:American folk music groups]] [[Category:Musical groups from North Carolina]] [[Category:Psychedelic folk groups]] [[Category:Freak folk groups]]