Thursday, April 5, 2012

Festival en el Barrio: The Very Best Thing You Can Do With Your Saturday!

Posted By on Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 2:00 PM

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Eric Swedlund inteviews the members of Megafaun, who will be among the acts at this weekend's Festival en el Barrio:


Megafaun began after the breakup of DeYarmond Edison, formed in Eau Claire, Wis., and including Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Chris Porterfield. Porterfield's first album as Field Report will be released later this year.

Westerlund and brothers Brad (bass, guitar) and Phil (keyboards, banjo) Cook share songwriting and singing duties, and over the course of three albums and an EP, they have shown they're adaptable to everything from spare folk to psychedelic freakouts, turning sometimes to horns and even classic 1960s pop. Comparisons to the Grateful Dead and contemporaries like Akron/Family might get close to describing the band's sound, but any singular comparison will fall short.

"We're just interested in so many different styles of music. ... It's just part of who we are. I don't think we can change that," Westerlund says. "Having that background of music education in general, and having the jazz influence has enabled us to go that many more places in our arrangements. But I think more than anything, it's a state of mind for us. We love improvisation. That's the greatest thing we've taken from listening to a lot of jazz and absorbing a lot of jazz."

You're really not gonna want to stay home this Saturday when you can be having fun in the heart of the city, are you? Get your tickets here.

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