DOWNLOAD: Tu Fawning - "Bones" (from forthcoming CD A Moment - out May 15th)

Portland, OR's Tu Fawning will release their sophomore album A Monument in the US on May 15th, 2012 via City Slang. The album is preceded by the free MP3 download premiere of "Bones", a 7+ minute-long opus of fluttering and pulsing primal beats.

Led by Corrina Repp and Joe Haege (31Knots), Tu Fawning expands upon the dark, vaudevillian vibes of their 2010 debut LP Hearts On Hold with A Monument. The album marks the first release written and recorded collaboratively as the four-piece of Repp, Haege, Liza Reitz, and Toussaint Perrault, who came together shortly after the duo of Repp and Haege returned from Tu Fawning's first tour. A Monument is steeped in the band's love of music from around the world, and wastes no time making its impact with the dynamic opening trio of the billowing, hypnotically rhythmic "Anchor", the warped R&B/soul cadence of "Blood Stain", and the moody and sensual "Wager". The spooky theatrics of "Build A Great Cliff" and the choral loops and scaling of "Skin and Bone" segue into the mesmeric second half, which closes with the epic "Bones". Repp's formidable, smoky voice leads the charge throughout, at once ethereal and earthly.

The songs of A Monument were found in the practice recordings made by Haege, or in Perrault's home-recorded demos, and - in addition to the usual guitars, keys, horns, and drums - feature instrumentation such as a ragini, a tuned-down marching band drum, old '80s synths, and South American chant samples turned into chords. Some of Perrault's recorded loose ideas ended up somewhat defining the album: to use synths more heavily but with no intention of making an "electro" record. The band employed four tracks, old tape recorders, and dying guitar pedals in documenting the songs, and sometimes recorded vocals by turning their backs to the microphones and yelling - always finding character and a sense of timelessness in the unusual and sometimes less than perfect means.

Repp set out to put a true sense of tenderness front and center in the album, frequently writing lyrics while listening to mixes through headphones in the dark. While working on the words over a concentrated period of time, a common thread began running between them. Each track explores different permutations of what a monument is: the idea of something revered, something that represents something else, something pure. In their mix of the sincere and mildly unconventional, the songs explore the connection between the good and bad, the light and dark, the sensuality and earnestness in being alive.

Tu Fawning recorded A Monument with friends at Tiny Telephone Studios in San Francisco, CA, and at Type Foundry in Portland last summer, with some additional recording at Menomena's Justin Harris' house - all factors that lent a warm, familial feel to the recordings.

A Monument Track Listing:
- Anchor
- Blood Stain
- Wager
- A Pose For No One
- Build A Great Cliff
- Skin and Bone
- In The Center Of Powder White
- To Break Into
- Bones

Links:
Tu Fawning