Video of the Day: Megafaun and Tallest Man on Earth Cover Bon Iver
Two artists from the same folk-Americana ecosystem playing someone else's song. The collaboration says something about where folk music was in 2010.
Megafaun and the Tallest Man on Earth occupying the same space and playing a Bon Iver song is not surprising if you follow the overlapping ecosystem of early 2010s indie folk-Americana. These acts knew each other, played the same festivals, drew from overlapping pools of influence, and in several cases collaborated directly.
Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago was released in 2007 and had a significant effect on the indie folk conversation. The record's sonic isolation — Justin Vernon recording alone in a cabin in Wisconsin — became a kind of touchstone for a particular kind of intimate, voice-focused folk-influenced recording.
The clip
The specific clip is a performance recording, the kind made at a festival or multi-act event rather than in a dedicated recording situation. Megafaun's three-part harmonies and Matsson's solo approach create an interesting ensemble: layered and single-voiced simultaneously.
The Bon Iver cover works because the song's structure is simple enough to hold multiple interpretations. Vernon's original recordings are heavily processed in specific ways. Strip the processing and play the song acoustically and you find the traditional folk form underneath.
Megafaun and North Carolina
Megafaun formed in Durham, North Carolina, after relocating from Wisconsin. The North Carolina connection placed them in proximity to a significant cluster of contemporary folk and Americana artists who were working in and around Chapel Hill and Durham in the late 2000s.
The band's musical approach draws from a wide range of sources: Appalachian folk, experimental music, country, soul. The combination is not schematic. It sounds like people who have listened to a great deal of music and integrated it rather than categorized it.
For more in this field notes series: Video of the Day: Tallest Man on Earth Covers Jackson Browne and the Field Notes index.