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Megafaun, Live In Concert: Newport Folk 2012

By Stephen Thompson
Published July 29, 2012 at 8:32 PM EDT
Megafaun performs at the Newport Folk Festival.
Erik Jacobs for NPR
Megafaun performs at the Newport Folk Festival.

Bon Iver isn't the only musical act spawned by the breakup of the Wisconsin band DeYarmond Edison: While Justin Vernon was retreating to a snowbound cabin to make For Emma, Forever Ago, his former collaborators — and fellow former jazz students — were settling in North Carolina and forming Megafaun. Fusing Dead-style psychedelic rambles with many strains of modern folk music, Megafaun crafts songs that can whisper or rage, meander or kick.

The band's self-titled third album has a knack for blending classic-rock traditionalism with a real ear for experimentation: Just listen to its eight-minute standout, "Get Right," which sprawls and grooves without losing momentum. Elsewhere, Megafaun is considerably more concise, but no less adventurous. The group performs here as part of the 2012 Newport Folk Festival, recorded live on Friday, July 27 in Newport, R.I.

Set List

  • "Volunteers"

  • "Look Out Cleveland"

  • "Get Right"

  • "Kaufman's Ballad"

  • "You Are The Light"

  • "Scorned"

  • "Heretofore"

  • "Real Slow"

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    Stephen Thompson
    Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)
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