Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Dec 2, 2010Light of a Vaster Dark is ultimately the most integrated, seamlessly rendered aural illustration of McCarthy's unique vision that Faun Fables has released to date.
-
Dec 2, 2010Throughout Light Of A Vaster Dark there is an overriding sense of closeness and inclusiveness that draws you in and belies any accusations of pretentiousness that might otherwise come from straying into musical terrain far off the road so over-travelled.
-
Dec 2, 2010Perhaps the highest compliment you can pay the latest Faun Fables album is that neither its 'tuneful' or 'creepy' parts sound more naturally achieved than the other, and that they sound like they've sprung from the well of a woman with a unique creative – and literal – voice.
-
Dec 2, 2010Lovely as it may be, Light of a Vaster Dark largely lacks the surprising, adventurous quality of Faun Fables's past efforts, coming off as monotone and unremarkable in comparison.
-
MojoDec 23, 2010Faun Fables do gothic folk with admirable vigour and this is incontrovertible force of nature. [Jan 2011, p.104]
-
Jan 19, 2011This time, though, the band at her back gives that point hooks, rhythms, and textures instead, not just tangents. It's a welcome, if obvious, deviation for a band that's finally more than interesting.
-
Q MagazineJan 27, 2011It might be out of time, but it's worth tuning out modern life and falling in with its curious beat. [Jan 2011, p.140]
-
Dec 2, 2010For all her grandiosity, though, McCarthy's meditations on domestic toil ("Housekeeper") and seasonal change ("Hibernation Tales") feel intimately heartfelt, while the wailing "O Mary" blends natural imagery and Christian allusions in stirring fashion.
-
Dec 2, 2010It might've been enough for Faun Fables to bear up McCarthy's commanding theatricality on this album. Instead, it has a surplus of ideas that only make Light feel more purposeful.
-
Dec 2, 2010Up to a point it's gothic, ritualistic folk music, with long melodies and fanciful lyrics that go to animistic places. But it also has a theremin, making the atmosphere creepier. And above all it has the clear, strong, resolute voice of Dawn McCarthy, one of the best singers we have right now. (Yes, really; and she wrote three of the four songs too.) It's musky stuff, but not rooted in any particular hippie sensibility.
-
Dec 2, 2010The pioneering hardiness Faun Fables capably venerates is now the domain of reenactors. The intrepid few who still seek frontiers have only the vaster dark of dreams to explore.
-
UncutDec 20, 2010Luckily, the music, a tapestry of harmonica, bass clarinets and bamboo flutes, is a florid, textured joy. [Jan 2011, p.86]