Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Subgenre Coverfolk: Freak Folk
(Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Animal Collective, Vetiver)


copyright lauren dukoff; borrowed from naturalismo.blogspot.com

In a MySpace age of hypenated multiple genre designation, the term “folk” is increasingly used by artists and promoters as a call to a specific approach to musicmaking – usually characterized by acoustic instrumentation, and/or a sort of lo-fi confessional sensibility.

If we were cynics, we might suspect that the term is used primarily not to signify genre identity at all, but instead to call to a kind of authenticity or legitimacy, as if being “folk” was a good, organic, indie thing to be. Certainly, the sounds produced by these slash-folk-slash-other bands do sometimes contain hints of tradition, and of intimacy, and of storytelling. And sometimes, they have acoustic guitars. But the hybrid forms which this phenomenon creates are too fragmented to be true subgenres. And for most folks, they're not folk, either.

That said, there is a high potential for subgenre to appear at the intersection of one musical form and another. Previously on Cover Lay Down, we've taken a look at some other subgenres from the fringes of folk, a diverse set spanning Celtic Punk, Bluegrass, and Zydeco. Today, we look at one of the boundaries where the folk world meets something else entirely. Its nominal figurehead and unspoken leader Devendra Banhart calls it Naturalismo. Most people call it Freak Folk. And let me warn you in advance, folks: it's kind of weird.

Joanna NewsomSee, it's pretty much a given in folk music that the prevalence of singer-songwriter folk forms at the core of modern folk music traces its lineage to the folk revival of the sixties. Go to any folk festival; few are stretching the boundaries. Instead, there's something definitively sixties-esque about the ways in which, like Bob Dylan and Joni Michell before them, new artists continue to connect with an entire generation, via the intimate nature of folk music, that they might question their values and structures through lyrics which applied the personal to the political.

But though it is easy to misremember the connections between such ultimately mainstream artists and the hippie movements as if they were synonymous, it is also important to remember that the act of questioning power led the hippies to some very strange journeys and new values – which celebrated experimentation over structure, and a rejection of the trappings of coopted mainstream success which came so quickly for our beloved sixties icons.

The hippie drug culture which grew up and dropped out to embrace such values also brought forth folk forms of its own which lived outside the mainstream folkways, strange in instrumentation and intonation. They called it Freak Folk -- folk to freak out to, and folk for freaks -- and its champions included Donovan, the Incredible String Band, and even early Jefferson Airplane.

Animal CollectiveIf Josh Ritter and Ani DiFranco's latest protege are the new mainstream folk, then despite a primary fan base in the indie community, Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Vetiver and Animal Collective have a legitimate claim to the Freak Folk throne. And, just as in the sixties, the mainstream camps of the folkworld haven't really noticed. And maybe it's all for the better. Call it what you will – freak folk, Nu-folk, or a particular brand of psych folk – the modern inheritors of the strange, delicate, visionary music of Donovan and Vashti Bunyan by way of Nick Drake produce a music heavy with experience and ecstasy which would, I fear, both bore and frustrate many stolid folk fans.

It took me awhile, too. Certainly, I came to freak folk slowly. I never really got into the original freak folk movement. When Joanna Newsom was all over the blogs a year or two back, I eagerly sampled, but found her grasshopper-warble voice and classical discordant harp playing kind of alienating. Now that the dust has started to settle a bit on the newest wave of the freak folk movement, I find I like it.

Even if I'm still not sure what to make of it.

It's surreal, and strange, and I guess that's part of the point. Musically, freak folk and the related genre designations Psych folk and nu-folk fall well within the "folk idiom" as one astute wikipedian puts it. But unless he was a serious hippie, this is not your father's folk record collection. Freak Folk leans heavily on the drone, combining it with an almost elizabethan sound and instrumentation, as if the players on stage in a production of As You Like It got heavy into the acid before the curtain went up on the second act.

But there's also something wonderfully delicate about the music that gets put into this category, especially in the vocalization. The voices are creaky and strange, focused on delivery more than beauty, and yet somehow, a strange and alien beauty can emerge nonetheless from the trancelike product.

VetiverIs Freak Folk folk in more than just name? Yes, I think so. The tendency toward stripped-down, acoustic performance is there; more, the music may sound like an alien's confession, but it is still confessional in its own way, strange metaphors and all.

Yet as it was in its original incarnation, Freak Folk remains a challenge to the very mainstream listening habits of the coopted folkworld. In the end, I think, this is a form of folk which is notable for how introspective it is for the performer -- and how isolated the performer is, in pose and persona and performance, from the audience itself. Where both the traditional folkforms which emerge from cultures and the confessional singer-songwriter forms which still typify the core group of performers at folk festivals work as folk because the lyrics and the simple structures of the music allow for an easy connection between listener and player, Freak Folk plays with a kind of alienating tension which reverses the traditional stance between music and masses.

Sometimes it fails -- I know plenty of folk fans who cannot listen comfortably to this music. And if this sort of folk succeeds at all for the audience, it is only by proxy, at least until we get fully drawn into the psychadelic tranceworld of the performer. But when it works, Freak Folk goes beyond connecting performers and audiences to engender shared ecstacies which can dissolve all boundaries between the music and the core emotional beings of both listener and performer. This is the psychadelic experience, after all.

Today, some cover songs from the Freak Folk scene, plus a few especially comparable songs from artists whose names keep coming up in the research. The covers approach serves us especially well today, I think: this is a form of music which is difficult in some ways, so having an entry point in the commonality of familiar lyric and melody may be a necessary component to bring some of us in far enough to even attempt the ecstatic experience. But listen deeply. There is an immense, fragile beauty here that can make you shiver.



Like most of the artists in today's feature, we here at Cover Lay Down eschew corporate culture, but these folks gotta eat, and you gotta hear 'em. Each of the artists herein produces albums; all are worth the investment, both emotionally speaking and as purchases. Click artist links above to buy work the organic, countercultural way: direct from the places where the artists best benefit.

Today's bonus coversong: though most of the Freak Folk movement is too new to have been covered, Joanna Newsom has charmed more than a few fans in the world of indie music. Here, two very different covers totally transform her original sound, while still retaining the marginal essence of freak and the delicate, deliberate approach of folk.

22 comments:

Kevin said...

Love your work as usual, however, I'm not sure if I'd tag Sam Beam and co. in the same sub-genre. Apples and Oranges, I guess?

You should check out Vetiver, whose latest "Thing Of The Past" is a georgous collection of low-fi covers.

http://www.vetiverse.com/

boyhowdy said...

Man, I totally meant to include the new Vetiver tracks in the review -- that's what I get for letting the drafting period go on for too long.

I've added them in. Hope it's not too late for most folks.

I'd not generally include Sam Beam in this list, either -- and Sufjan's music is more diverse than the Freak Folk designation would suggest. But as I mentioned in the review, those two names came up all over the research, as folks associated with, or in the same mode of production/sound. And these tracks, at least, do sound comparable, I think.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the feature on Freak Folk... it's my favorite genre of the moment. I check your website almost every day and it was great to see this pop up. I wouldn't mind revisiting this one later on if you have more Freak Folk tunes to share... thanks again for your website!

boyhowdy said...

Glad to hear others are making the effort to find this stuff, Noel. If you have any favorite covers I forgot to mention, let me know!

Of course, as is usually the case (he said sheepishly), I have indeed unearthed a couple of additional artists/coversongs I totally forgot about just a bit too late to include, so keep an eye open in the next few weeks for a few more Freak Folk tunes as part of a (Re)Covered post!

Olibear said...

Great site guys! i really love it


Oliver

www.thefourohfive.com

Anonymous said...

Just last night I came across a youtube of Devendra doing Townes Van Zandt's "Colorado Girl". "Hmmm", thinks I, "I like Devendra, let's hear it." It was painful--I couldn't stick around past more than a couple of lines.

I guess the point is that I like Devendra doing his thing and I didn't realize how unconventional he was until I heard him covering someone else's stuff.

Divinyl said...

Great post...I love it when I get a good read, rather than someone just throwing up a few mp3s! I am merrily a folk and a "freak folk" fan. Joanna Newsom is amazing live...and Devendra Banhart suitably strange (but in a good way). When I saw Banhart, he was supported by Vetiver who, I'm afraid to say, were deadly dull.

I didn't have most of these cover tracks (nice concept for a blog), so look forward to giving them a whirl...thank you :o)

Anonymous said...

Great post! I've been getting REALLY into freak-folk, and completely love it :)

Mark said...

Great stuff. Personally, I'd totally include Iron & Wine in that list. Those particular songs are pretty straightforward, but some of his other stuff would definitely qualify as 'freak-folk.'

If you get a chance, check out this indie-pop/folk band Mockingbird, Wish Me Luck from Sweden. They've got a new album out from the label I'm working for this summer, Blow Up.

Cheers

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