Halo Fauna

There was something instantly familiar about this album, but not in a been-there-done-that way. More on the comforting side, like a blanket a friend knit you. It could be because the music is the sweet blend of folk punk and indie rock that reminds me why I always like Plan-It-X releases. As is my wont, I liked the poppy, sentimental tracks the best. “Exposure, Processing, and Recording” won me over with its catchy verses and cleaning-out-my-old-bedroom storyline. “Infamous Apology” also struck a we’re-screwing-everything-up-for-future-generations chord with me. I generally like to avoid the “this band sounds like that band” style of reviewing, but I spent my whole first listen of this album trying to figure out who they reminded me of. Finally it hit me. The Weakerthans. Which is another possible reason for the home-made blanket familiarity of this album. That said, this band stands on its own. Consider my heartstrings tugged. –Jennifer Whiteford (Plan-It-X) 

Durak was released on Plan-It-X but Halo Fauna thankfully leaves the folk-punk in the rearview mirror. In turn, the band delivers some well played indie rock with both a musical and lyrical bite. Halo Fauna beam melodies out from every corner while keeping a quick, steady pace throughout. I keep thinking of Halo Fauna as a more upbeat, full band version of The Mountain Goats. Perhaps that is just because of the similarly styled nasal vocals though. Really, the band’s intelligent and captivating lyrics mostly recall the stylings of the greatWeakerthans. With the sincerity of emo and the aggressiveness of punk, the band’s brand of endearing rock might have been commonplace in the past. However, Halo Fauna are left with very few peers anymore. The band are forging their own path through abandoned territories. For the listener, it creates a most rewarding journey. And the talented artwork of Kristine Virsis fits the album perfectly. With Durak, Halo Fauna have put together a strong album in every artistic aspect. Well done.

Most of the time on Durak, Buffalo/Brooklyn’s Halo Fauna manage to break away from the Plan-It-X mold and manage to churn out jangly, indie pop-tinged, casually played folk-punk songs that are much closer to the Weakerthans than the Against Me! of old. 

The one moment such familiarity rings out is “Rehashing Descartes,” where Eric Ayotte unmistakably resembles a young Tom Gabel. However, it’s actually the album’s most memorable track, carrying a subtle type of urgency that finds Ayotte yelping the opening lines: “This is happening / our history repeats / and it’s unstoppable.” Still, Halo Fauna are very solid in the short album’s other 23 minutes. Other musical standout moments come in the form of “Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo [sic],” where unexpected riffs pleasingly interrupt the song’s flow, and Ayotte trying a bit of vocal dynamism in “Blame a Bird for Your Shortcomings.” 

Their lyrics of personal confessions, storytelling elements and vague social/political analysis bear special mention too, however. Take the pitcuresque narrative of “Exposure, Processing, and Recording”: “Box up the Mad Magazine with the Cracked, comic books and sports cards. / Action figures find sovereignty in a bin with the toy cars.” “Futility and Familiarity” has some choice diction and a bit of a poetic nature: “A torpid digression to complacent bitterness. / When we see the tarnish on our potentials we’ll shake our heads at our neglect to cover it in plastic. / … / I’m an old man who can’t catch the Frisbee his granddaughter tossed. / The burden of breath, a heartbeat, and self-pity.“ 

It’s a simple and fairly engaging formula, albeit far from overwhelming, but a definitively nice and pleasurable listen. 

I’d picked up a couple of earlier releases from this band last year, and enjoyed them, so was quite keen to hear their first full release, this being on Plan-It-X. Plan-It-X is not a label I normally associate with bands I enjoy, so I had a slight trepidation in this, but once the first song kicked in all concerns were quickly eroded. The guitars jangle in gently, with a warm and bubbly bass line to usher things along, before the song builds up to rock just a tiny bit more. The vocals have a slightly off-key / quirky feel, and switch well between urgent and passive, which always goes down well with me. Damn fine way to open a CD if you ask me. At this point I have to start racking my brains to figure out who I can compare it to. You don’t tend to hear this kind of indie rock very often. It has very slight indie / emo tinges in the guitars at times, meaning that the best I can come up with is something like the Weakerthans crossed with the Promise Ring or Superchunk, which really should be a combo that appeals to anyone who likes a bit of melody on their stereo. It’s those little flavours from the late 90s that really elevate this above a lot of the other more standard indie rock albums you’ll come across, and at the same time somehow they also give it a fresh sound. This genuinely is different to almost anything else I have heard in the past 3 or 4 years, which is something that you just don’t get to say very often when reviewing indie rock records. Lyrically the band deals with the personal and the political, which is part of what engenders the Weakerthans comparison. If you’re the kind of person who pays more than a cursory glance to the lyric sheet, then this aspect of the band should please you too. 

This is a really good album, my expectations were easily exceeded and I am left with the feeling that this is one of the best albums of the year so far.