Review Summary: Faune gives tribute to the ghosts.
French drone folk duo Faune are hard to find. Their name is a commonplace French word, their last two albums were both self-titled, they don’t seem to be on the usual streaming services, and (most obviously) they make dense, avant-garde music in French. Whether intentionally or not, Faune seem to relish in their relative obscurity. So I hope that me, an English speaker with no lyrics on hand, isn’t chipping at that wall in some way. I just feel that a group as gifted as Faune shouldn’t go unnoticed any longer.
At 4 tracks, 86 minutes, Des Fantômes may be outwardly daunting to the uninitiated. But in actuality, their latest record isn’t as far a departure from their previous, more-manageably-paced albums as it might initially seem. Each track here is actually 3 or 4 parts of an acoustic live recording. A collection of traditional French classical folk compositions, most of which from the Auvergne region of central France (I believe). A mountainous area full of rich history and forested landscapes, sparse and relatively untouched compared to the modern world it’s surrounded by; Faune’s sensibilities fit almost too well.
Beneath Jacques Puech’s saintly vocals and Guilhem Lacroux’s enchanting harmonium drones and the traditional compositions lies an album that’s main focus is auditory experimentation, to the point where I would say that it’s Faune’s droniest release. And as much as I liked this album, I could not help but miss the psych folk freakouts from their earlier work. This is much more an album that you play all in one sitting or not at all. There are those that will be turned off by that, and I get that, but I just am in awe whenever I hear them play. Even at their mellowest and recorded live, this duo manages to make an album that feels fully orchestrated and packed to the layer with sound. It would take me forever to detail all of the small touches they add, but each one is utilized so well and comes together beautifully.
Des Fantômes, and Faune in general, are far from essential listening. At least, in the internet-music-listener-sphere. An album of French folk songs probably doesn’t whet very many whistles out there, and I doubt you’ll be seeing Des Fantômes topping any major publication’s year-end list. But for me, this is yet another excellent release by a group that has yet to do me wrong. A perfect album to meditate on life in a small field near the rural mountain village you sometimes wish you grew up in.
