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Fauna Timbre Premiere Acoustic Live Performance Videos; Altering Echoes EP out Now

Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 20th, 2018 by JJ Koczan

fauna timbre

Norwegian trio Fauna Timbre released their debut EP, Altering Echoes, on Halloween. Driven by guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, vocalist and recording engineer Marius Sjøli, it’s a collection of five songs that touches on post-metal and textures out of heavy progressive rock, depressive in the lumbering of “Violent Waves” but prone to an impression in its melody as much as its unfolding sonic weight. There’s a sense of exploration happening in opener “Heart Murmurs” — as, frankly, there should be on a first collection — but as Sjøli, guitarist/bassist Kenneth Aarmo and drummer Petter Dehlie Frydenlund embark on these songs, an underlying fragility in the vocals gives emotional heft and a feeling of overarching melancholy to suit the variability of the surrounding noise, which comes to a wash of distortion in centerpiece “Turn the Sun” ahead of the spacious voice-showcase “Umbra” and culmination that arrives with closer “Memory Leak.” One might tie that to a root in progressive Euro-style doom, outfits of long-standing like Swallow the Sun or even Paradise Lost, but as heavy as Fauna Timbre get, their mission never takes them to the levels of extremity or aggression that so often correspond with those acts’ sadder stretches.

In part because this is the first time I’m posting about the band, I’ve included the stream of Altering Echoes — the title evocative of the way one reshapes memories over time, creating the narrative of life — at the bottom of this post, but I’m all the more compelled to do so because the videos premiering below are a sonic departure from the core sound of the release. It feels like a particularly bold choice on the part of Fauna Timbre not only to record promotional videos live, but to do so acoustic when their project as a whole is still so new. The clips are short. The first draws from parts of “Umbra” and “Memory Leak” and the second presents what one assumes is a likewise reinterpreted version of “Claws,” which will appear on their impending first long-player. Both have been filmed in the same room with dim lighting and are a straight-on shot of Sjøli and Aarmo playing the songs. It could well be that the album, whenever it arrives, will include more “unplugged” moments, but either way, as the band continues to develop their sound and approach to the studio — I’d argue their will toward progression is shown even in these initial tracks — the fact that they’re able to convey the material in such a raw form only speaks to its underlying strength. How the rest will play out is a question for whenever it actually does so.

You can dig into “Umbra/Memory Leak” and “Claws” via the players below, followed by some quick comment from the band on presenting the tracks in this fashion.

Please enjoy:

Fauna Timbre, “Umbra/Memory Leak Medley” live acoustic video

Fauna Timbre, “Claws” live acoustic video

Fauna Timbre on acoustic videos:

“Umbra/Memory Leak” is a medley of a couple of parts of the songs off Altering Echoes that works in an acoustic setting. It might not be representative for the EP as a whole, but we wanted to maintain the atmosphere, and I think the songs translate to the new setting in that sense. After spending a lot of time on an album it’s good to sometimes bring some new life to the tracks and do something different.

“Claws” is a track from the upcoming album we are currently writing and producing. It’s pretty mellow track compared to the rest of the new album, and we figured we wanted to do something different and make a stripped down version of it. It might [give] us some ideas on the arrangement before going into the studio. Captured on the Norwegian countryside in a cold house in October.

Fauna Timbre is:
Marius Sjøli // Vocals, guitar, bass, sound design and keyboards
Kenneth Aarmo // Guitar and bass
Petter Dehlie Frydenlund // Drums and percussion

Fauna Timbre, Altering Echoes (2018)

Fauna Timbre on Thee Facebooks

Fauna Timbre on Bandcamp

Fauna Timbre on Soundcloud

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