Faun Fables, with Invincible Czars

Payne, John June 18, 2008 4:00AM

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Dawn McCarthy's Faun Fables is an odd, uncategorizable, morphing entity that sits on your kitchen table, emanating an orange-ish glow and a low humming sound. In tandem with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum singer/multi-instrumentalist Nils Frykdahl, McCarthy chills the spine with beautifully forthright singing and conjuring of "dreams within dreams" in a heavily contrapuntal, mostly acoustic sound circus that seems rooted in English plainsong and such folk-art offspring as the Incredible String Band. Centering on the theme of tending a home and its immediate impact upon our daily lives, McCarthy's new A Table Forgotten EP on Drag City is evocatively colored by Frykdahl's guitar, percussion and wind instruments. They're joined by violinist Meredith Yayanos and Kirana Peyton on harmonium, vocals and Irish Bodhran drum; Matt Waldron of Nurse With Wound co-produced the album. Together they create an arcane musical world that is a simply fascinating place to be.