Come on ease your worried mind

Monday night I ran smack into some musical magic, that kind that keeps me going and replenishes me.

After a kinetic supernova of a house show at the Team Gigbot HQ House with the guys in These United States, I skittered on over to the Megafaun show at the Larimer Lounge. Since I got sidetracked up on rooftops on the way over there, I only caught the last few songs of Megafaun’s set. These former bandmates of Bon Iver rock the same lumberjack/Deliverance chic, resonating with beautiful songs like this one:

Worried Mind – Megafaun

It’s a timeless song, like campfires, or gospel. They performed “Worried Mind” for the final encore, extinguishing out all the lights and joining us off the stage in the audience.

I didn’t get any postable video because it was black as night, with just the twinkling Christmas lights strung around the stage. But what made it remarkable was how everyone in the venue sang along loudly and confidently, growing in volume each time we circled back through: “Come on ease your mind, ohhhhh come on ease your mind…” It did, in fact, ease any worries I might have had ricocheting around in my brain — there always seem to be a few.

I knew the words to sing from last year’s chill-inducing video of Megafaun performing it with Bon Iver in a Hollywood cemetery at sunrise, but this was an unexpectedly visceral experience — all mine, ringing in my ears and all around me.

Their second album Gather, Form, and Fly is out now on Hometapes Records.

MEGAFAUN TOUR DATES (Go sing along)
Apr 15 – Tractor Tavern – Seattle, Washington
Apr 16 – Media Club – Vancouver, British Columbia
Apr 17 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, Oregon
Apr 18 – Sam Bonds Garage – Eugene, Oregon
Apr 19 – Sophia’s Thai Kitchen – Davis, California
Apr 20 – The Independent – San Francisco, California
Apr 21 – The Echo – Los Angeles, California
Apr 22 – Hotel Congress – Tucson, Arizona
Apr 23 – The Sail Inn – Tempe, Arizona
Apr 24 – Low Spirits – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Apr 26 – Hailey’s – Denton, Texas
Apr 27 – Emo’s Inside – Austin, Texas
Apr 28 – Rudyards – Houston, Texas
Apr 30 – Bottletree – Birmingham, Alabama
May 1 – The Earl – Atlanta
May 7 – Cats Cradle – Carrboro, North Carolina

Oh! Bonus! While googling for related videos, I turned up this amazing clip of Megafaun and The Tallest Man On Earth covering Bon Iver:

PS – best comment on the page? ” I love that The Tallest Man On Earth is the shortest person in the video.”

[link to FB photos above from the These United States house show by the talented Sarah Law]

and in the morning i’ll be with you (but it’ll be a different kind)

As the sun cracked up over the California horizon Sunday morning, I lay cuddled under a warm blanket a few states over, but amidst the palm trees and the eerie fog, my friend Dainon sent me a cell phone snap and then stood in the grey morning light filming this opening number in a Hollywood cemetery:

I’ve been watching every video I can find of Bon Iver‘s sunrise show, which surely was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I can’t think of an artist I’d rather hear while wrapped in a sleeping bag, sleepily smiling through thick fog as the sky turned pink (watch the rosy color change from the beginning to end of “Skinny Love”). It’s enough to give me all kinds of chills.

Dainon ends his review with recounting:

“How about we do this all again sometime?” Justin says, pausing. After some thought, he follows with: “No, how about we never do it again? How about that?” If he sealed his band’s fate with those words, you know? That’ll do.

EDIT: This is magical, especially the end.
(more wonderful vids)

Worried Mind – Megafaun

[full review]