Megafaun

I love musicians that can also double as comedians. Hi Ho Silver Oh, Breathe Owl Breathe, and Megafaun were all really funny. I didn’t know Hi Ho Silver Oh was even playing until I got to the Echo. I think they were last minute add-ons. I saw them play on the Charlene Yi Show at UCB recently and was immediately hooked by singer Casey Trela’s introspective-yet-humorous lyrics. Trela started the show off by telling us we were in for a “homey night,” and the entire show felt like we were sitting in a living room listening to close friends telling jokes and stories and playing music for each other. One of the highlights of the set was a song inspired by Derrick Comedy’s D.C. Pierson’s new novel, The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To. Hi Ho Silver Oh were joined by Daniel Hart on violin and Leslie from Leslie and the Badgers provided guest vocals for a closing Tom Petty cover.

Hi Ho Silver Oh

Michigan’s Breathe Owl Breathe, a three-piece band with guitar, cello, and drunks, opened with a story about how the singer recently collided with a roller skater who, as it turned out, was listening to the Last Of The Mohicans on tape. Their set was full of similarly weird yet endearing and funny stories. With songs about turning the dance floor into a swimming pool and werewolves who are forced to shave to fit in, you can’t help but love Breathe Owl Breathe for their adorable strangeness.  If you can get a packed house to dance like a saber tooth tiger, you’re probably doing something right. Their new album, Magic Central, will be out this summer.

Breathe Owl Breathe

Megafaun—a trio comprised of brothers Brad and Phil Cook and Joe Westerlund—showed up on the Echo stage wearing Lakers jerseys, which was fairly predictable given their expressed love for basketball in my interview with them a few days ago. Between amusing stories about owning enough jerseys to outfit the audience, 4/20 adventures, and their new mind-melting term “brain jazz speech,” the performer/audience barricade disappeared. Megafaun created a warm and inclusive environment, charming everyone with their folk harmonies, abstract sound collages, and refreshing positive energy. They played mostly material off their sophomore album, Gather Form & Fly, but also played “Volunteers” off their upcoming mini-album, Heretofore. At the end of their set, they dived off the stage, marched into the crowd, and somehow got the entire audience to get into two lines and high-5 each other. An comical finale for a very amusing night.

—Lainna Fader, words + photo