I really don’t know if Tu Fawning were messing with our heads when they introduced their second album ‘A Monument’ back in February. Instead of, you know, doing the obvious and going with the most accessible track to unleash on the world in advance of the album proper, they instead gave us seven and a half minutes of drumming and atonality by way of ‘Bones’. I mean, I know you’re from Portland, and you’re on City Slang and all, but really? Thing was, the album, a radical departure from their first effort, has turned out to be one of those sleeper affairs, somehow always making the cut when refilling the iPod. Alongside some occasional bursts of exuberance, it’s very definitely low key as opposed to low-fi. The easy complexity is the very key to its appeal though, a puzzle that your mind will love to work on for months until it’s wrapped into your synapses. I was too perplexed to review the album at the time, and now despite the obvious disservice to a band who are criminally unknown over here, I’m kind of glad. It needed time.
Nicest individual track in an ensemble album (yes, I’m allowed to say “nice” once every couple of years) is ‘Wager’. It now has a shiny new video courtesy of director Annikki Heineman. As a four minute film, it’s pretty reined in, black and white images burst from the dark, and it helps rather than fights with the song. Try it, and if you’re sufficiently moved, there are tour dates below. Sadly, although there are multiple dates in Austria, there’s only one in the UK, at Jojo’s in Soho. Oh to be Austrian.
23. Sep 12 FR Lille la malterie
25. Sep 12 DE Stuttgart Schocken
26. Sep 12 CH Zurich Viadukt (Bogen f)
27. Sep 12 DE Freiburg Waldsee
28. Sep 12 AT Innsbruck Weekender
29. Sep 12 AT Linz Posthof
01. Okt 12 HR Zagreb NKC Park
02. Okt 12 AT Graz Forum Stadtpark
03. Okt 12 HU Budapest Trafo House
04. Okt 12 AT Vienna Waves Festival
06. Okt 12 IT Varese Twiggy
08. Okt 12 FR Paris Cafe La Danse
09. Okt 12 UK London White Heat
