The Fauns’ first album in 10 years sees the Bristolian shoegaze outfit deliver nine tracks of sprawling, breathy dream-pop. It’s a welcome return for a group who have established a loyal and dedicated following, demonstrating significant development from their 2013 record, ‘Lights’.
Crucially, ‘How Lost’ takes you on a journey. Opener Mixtape Days is a stumble through the grotty bars of Camden a generation ago — all chuntering and clicky drums and soaring synths — while the title track is a genteel illumination of romances past. It has a vocal performance from Alison Garner that calls to mind the mystical wanderings of 1990s trobairitz Liz Fraser or Hope Sandoval.
The hybrid drums championed by Guy Rhys-Davies are both the best and worst thing about ‘How Lost’. They are distinctive, detailed and generically exact; they place the album’s sound squarely alongside the Cocteau Twins and take us back to the aforementioned early 90s.
It’s unmistakable and, on a good day, can be called ‘vintage’ or ‘distinguished’, at a push. On a bad day the sound is just plain dated. It’s the result of not updating your equipment (or ideas) and sticks out as a constant detractor from the otherwise decent songwriting.
This impression is only really alleviated towards the end of the album on Dark Discotheque and Spacewreck, where the drums develop into more chunky, less temporally exact sounds. That track ordering is clearly a decision that has been taken intelligently and gives the album quality and direction, and yet one cannot really forget about the old hat percussion that came before.
Whatever the medium, in creative production you are often looking to eradicate those little flaws that distract from storytelling. An untidy edit here, a poor performance there, a typo. On ‘How Lost’ that little flaw is the dated drum sound that persists for two thirds of the record. It seems a harsh criticism to make because the sound seems more like a creative choice than an oversight, but the effect is the same. Sometimes it’s not about what you meant, but how it feels.
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