Faunlet - Tryptical Part One : Nightlads

I don’t know about you guys, but I love my sweet Romanian rock. And not because of some exaggerated sense of patriotism, but because I truly believe that our local bands can go toe-to-toe with their more-known western cousins.  Though they’re not getting as much attention as they deserve, the fact that Romanian bands are getting more and more popular gives me faith in the future.

Faunlet is a young Romanian post/alternative/gaze band formed in Bucharest. The lineup consists of Peter (vocals), Duda (bass), and Volo (drums). Romanians might know Peter as the soul and heart of such bands as vaduvaBOB and Uma Swan, who became notorious by creating a sound similar to Placebo. This is rather unique in Romania because I can name countless bands that adopted a whole genre, but very few that took the style of a particular band and blended it with their own.

Now, this  shows on Fauntlet’s Ep, Tryptical Part 1: Nightlads and not really -  the only thing that sounds like Placebo is Peter’s voice, which reaches these really high-pitched notes like there’s no tomorrow.  Other than that, my strong spider sense detected a fuckload of other styles and influences, like Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, The Smiths and other obvious shoegaze bands, like My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. I’m not saying that Faunlet are just some wannabes who want to be like their cool older brothers  and it’s very possible that I might’ve unconsciously pulled that whole paragraph about their influences out of my ass - it’s just that I can’t find a proper way to describe and label their music.  But what I CAN do is applaud their top-notch production and fine instrumental work. The songs are well built and you can feel the chemistry between the band members, who go crazy without breaking a sweat and losing focus.  The guitars  are deliciously distorted , the drumming is hypnotic and the lyrics, while having a few problems here and there, are depressing and haunting as fuck. I’m dead serious, check them out. That’s some heavy shit.

Speaking of depressing stuff, let’s sit down and analyze the songs.  The opening track, Tupique,  is a LSD trip about ( I guess) some kind of sick,  perverted form of parental abuse.  Though it scares the shit out of me, I can’t help myself but continuously listening to it. The lyrics are, as you might expect, cryptic and eerie ‘cause, you know, our name is Faunlet and we looove toying with Marco’s sanity and give him 5 heart attacks a day.  All jokes aside, they’re written in such a way that every word counts and could hide some obscure message. I’m still trying to find out what the hell they’re talking about, so if you have any bright ideas, you know where I live. The next song, Throne Away (hehehe, see what they did there? ) is friendlier  than the previous … instrumentally wise, because the lyrics are even more crazy.  Why is it that every new band that I stumble into has some weird fetish with cosmic horror motifs and gargantuan statues hit by giant, roaring waves ? It’s really scary knowing that out there are not only people who resemble me, but people who create music that is a reflection of my own insanity. Finally, the closing track, Mister P. , other than following the same formula as the previous songs, reminds me of Placebo’s Pierrot The Clown. Why? Well, besides the title, the first two verses ‘’ Your perfect white skin/ Your perfect white face’’  could be the brief description of a clown. 

If my intuition is correct and Faunlet confirms my speculation, from there on, I demand to be casted in all CSI shows, spin-offs and clones and be addressed as Sherlock Holmes. I have spoken.


http://faunlet.bandcamp.com/