Swiss project THE FAWN appears to be more of a creative collective than a band effort as such, from the descriptions I see about them. Material released using this moniker started to appear in 2012, and to date they have 3 albums and 5 EPs to their name from what I understand. The EP “Branches” is the most recent of these, and was released in December 2014 through Swiss label Hummus Records.
The premise of this EP, as described by the band, is: “4 songs in 4 days, 1 place, 17 artists coming and going.” Which presumably means that the material on this EP is more improvised than planned, and which in principle may call for a bit of variation in the material recorded. In this case that principle proves to be rather correctly assumed being present as well I may add.
The opening cut starts off as some sort of a simple singer/songwriter affair with dual male and female lead vocals, flavored with sound effects, which then shifts to a free form jazz-tinged affair that concludes with upbeat rhythms and hovering guitar solo effects that transports us directly over to second track Sleeping Lion, which kicks off on a strong and distinct grunge orientation with something of a stoner rock drive to it, subtly working towards more of a new wave or alternative rock expression and through a swift break a few minutes in concludes as more of a purebred specimen of that kind.
Third track Branches is more of a delicate new wave tinged affair, of the kind that made me think of New Order, flavored carefully with cosmic effects. Last track Reminder veers off into a rather different landscape again, this time more of an indie rock ballad flavored with careful sound effects and something of a singer/songwriter feel about it. Elegantly made and performed, with post rock tinged subtle textures appearing towards the end.
It’s an interesting ride through presumably improvised waters, where the common denominator arguably is a certain new wave or post punk tendency to the music crafted on this more or less improvised recording. It is to that crowd I’d recommend this EP as well, and then first and foremost to those among that crowd that has a fairly liberal and generally broad taste in music, as I suspect that will be needful to be able to enjoy this EP as the complete experience I suspect it was planned at being.
My rating: 70/100
