Faun Fables: A Table Forgotten

Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables does some serious

straddling. On one hand, she's affiliated with the avant-folk ensemble

Sleepytime Gorilla Musuem, whose Nils Frykdahl is also a member of her band; on

the other, she's lately been playing Rita Coolidge to Will Oldham's Kris

Kristofferson (minus, presumably, the kissing and stuff). Her own material

leans toward the former: Twisted and bittersweet, Faun Fables' A Table

Forgotten is

a four-song concept EP about the psychic tides of home and hearth.

Domestication might not seem like the edgiest subject matter—and indeed,

tracks like "With Words & Cake" and "Pictures" come across more like

art-school projects than warm reminiscences. But the tension McCarthy creates

between intellect and sentiment is stunning: The disc's title track is a

veritable prairie-opera combining acoustic guitars, woodwinds, Nico-esque

iciness, and earth-toned sketches of candlelit meals in bucolic kitchens. The

closer, "Winter Sleep," strays from the concept—it feels like just

another moody, eerie Faun Fables song tacked on the end. But as a placeholder

before McCarthy's upcoming full-length, Table is a tasty bite.