Megafaun

Only two albums into their discography, the North Carolina trio Megafaun have established an expansive vocabulary that embodies the strength of American melodies with an unquenchable thirst for new sounds. Siblings and multi-instrumentalists Phil and Brad Cook, along with drummer Joe Westerlund, call on brotherly harmony, free jazz ears, good-natured drama, and deep dips into experimentation for a music that is the best mix of familiar and surprising. It’s ridiculously fun, too.

Formed in Wisconsin as the quartet DeYarmond Edison, the band moved to North Carolina in 2005. The next year, during an attempt to reconcile traditional string-band music with the equally valid traditions of modern experimentation, the Cooks and Westerlund parted ways with bandmate Justin Vernon, whose own path has brought him to the world as Bon Iver. Where DeYarmond Edison failed, though, Megafaun has succeeded. Building from their first post-DeYarmond tour as a trio, where they were forced to stretch their small repertoire through jams and even skits, Megafaun’s Midwestern affability has long kept them on the friendly side of the avant-garde. On last year’s Gather, Form, and Fly, they mixed songs that sounded like Hank Williams outtakes and Americana-tinged indie rock with recordings that could be made by no one else—West African playfulness dancing into intricate composition, drums jamming with dripping water, stark desert harmonies.

Following tours with Akron/Family (for whom they have served as an expanded lineup), neighbors and friends Bowerbirds, and former bandmate Vernon as Bon Iver, Megafaun’s increasingly refined mission has only become more joyous: a pronoid conspiracy of good times, good tunes, and good bro-ing. —Jesse Jarnow