Austin’s Megafauna are pleased to share their new single and its accompanying video “Sometimes Island.” The video debuted today at Glide Magazine and the track will be on all streaming platforms on Friday for any playlist shares (pre-save). The video was directed by Vanessa Pla, who says, “Dani’s song made me dream of all things Fellini, Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend and Alice in Wonderland. I knew we wanted to shoot on 16mm and kept imagining Dani inside a tiny box singing to her other self on a sailboat. And we let our world expand into new places.”
“The song came into being while Will, Winston and I were living together early in the pandemic. Winston was playing us lots of bossa nova artists like Astrud Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim, and they heavily influenced the tune. I talked to our friend about filming the video on his sailboat and he mentioned that we’d be sailing near ‘Sometimes Island,’ a land mass in Lake Travis that is sometimes visible, depending on water levels. I thought it was a cool name for a song about love fading in and out of view.”
Jolting from headbanging math rock to an ethereal wash of psychedelia to grungy, garage riffage in an instance, Megafauna blend angular rhythms with beautiful melodies in a way unlike their Austin, TX rock and roll peers. Led by the ethereal vocals and guitar wizardry of Dani Neff, Megafauna draw from progressive powerhouses like Rush and The Mars Volta, avant-indie instigators Radiohead and Unknown Mortal Orchestra and contemporary shredders like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Mastodon. The band has evolved over the years to the current lineup of Zack Humphrey on drums, Will Krause on bass and Winston Barrett on guitar/keys, each bringing a precision and edge to the outfit.
On the band’s expansive sixth full length album, Olympico, they worked with producer/engineer Charles Godfrey (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, …Trail of Dead, Swans, Holy Wave). Together, they collectively shaped an energetic and diverse record that adds to the Megafauna canon. The opening line sets the tone as Neff curiously sings “Say goodbye to normal people” on the track “Sunday Saturday.” The following tracks pulse with their signature rock sound before giving way to lighter moments like the psychedelic bossa nova of “Sometimes Island” and the indie math rock number “Dozer,” highlighting the band’s wide palette and sonic range. The album confidently meanders through touches of shoegaze, doomy stoner rock, sludge and various corners of the heavy, progressive and alternative rock esotera.
Neff titled the album Olympico after a character in Claire Lispector’s novella “The Hour of the Star.” This character is the epitome of a sexist man but for the purposes of the record, Neff turns him into a woman and changes the spelling. One theme winds its way throughout the album: women grappling with the patriarchy. On “Sunday Saturday,” Neff sings about wanting to leave the world and break the frame. In “Dozer,” “Bi Postal” and “Rage of the Queen,” we hear of revolutionary protagonists actively attempting to upend the system, pleading in “Dozer” – “Dozer, start it over right now.”
Megafauna once again venture to provide “a psychedelic excursion” (SPIN), “[steal] all the gnarly riffs in the world” (NOISEY), balance “the perfect mix of brainy and brawny “(Pop Matters) to blow your mind and “shatter your car windows” (Consequence of Sound). Fittingly the album ends with “Rage of the Queen”‘s final lines – “Make waves. Don’t wait. Choose fate. Checkmate.”
Performing at Levitation Festival, curated by The Black Angels and The Reverberation Appreciation Society, Megafauna flexed their latest material alongside French psych-rockers Slift, as the show was lauded by the festival community. No stranger to touring, they have sharply cut their chops across US and European stages, performing alongside Cursive, Unknown Mortal Orchestra at Treefort Festival, SXSW, Joshua Tree Music Festival, Norman Music Fest, and more.
Such as their namesake, the band crafts massive, heavy and momentous musical moments but with a beautiful, natural and melodic touch. To that end, Megafauna carry the weight of their sonic forebearers while they define their own path and break the neurotypical patterns of heavy rock.
03.30 – Austin, TX @ Hotel Vegas
04.28 – Lexington, TX @ MoCo Festival
05.06 – Austin, TX @ Sagebrush (album release show)
05.13 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
