I ventured into the damp forests of the Pacific Northwest frequently as a kid. Most of the time, my friends and I would stick to the trails. I’ll never forget the one time we didn’t.
When I was 16, a group of us decided to spend a weekend afternoon blazing our own trail through some completely undeveloped woods up in the hills just outside of town. The plan was to cut through the woods and pop out on the other side near another friend’s house and get a ride back to where we started. No trails, no maps, and no GPS (this was the pre-smartphone era, though a few of us did have flip phones). Just a bunch of dumb kids going off the grid.
I’d be lying if I told you I remember exactly when we attempted this feat, but in my mind it’s a crisp autumn day. It went great at first. We hiked in a general direction for about three hours, feeling completely and totally immersed in the forest. Predictably, we got lost.
For about two hours, we really didn’t know how we were going to get home. We had no cell service and we’d found our way into the middle of a very large forest. The sun was setting, and for a moment, it seemed like we might need to spend the night sleeping in the woods.
What does any of this have to do with an album from almost 10 years ago? Well, in my decades of music fandom, I’ve found two distinct types of artists: those who create a vibe and those who build an entire world. Holy Fawn is the latter, and their 2018 album Death Spells perfectly illustrates their mastery of the craft.
However you want to categorize Holy Fawn — shoegaze, post-rock, metal, or whatever else it conjures in your mind — their signature sound is heavy and distorted as hell. Gentle synths interspersed with roiling guitars and bass; falsetto vocals that take you by the hand and lead you to a wall of crushing, violent screaming. Album opener “Dark Stone” gives you a glimpse of how all of these disparate elements coalesce into something that can only be described as Holy Fawn.
The haunting “Drag Me into the Woods” is one of the standout tracks, and it makes me feel like I accidentally stumbled into a circle of druids performing a ritual in the woods and that I might be in danger. I’m not sure if that makes any sense, but listen to the song and tell me that I’m wrong.
The ironically-named “Yawning” is one of the more uptempo tracks on the album, and we’ve dropped all pretense that it’s going to be a gentle glide when the screaming starts one minute into the song. It absolutely rips, and it makes you wonder what a full-on metal album by Holy Fawn would sound like (it’d be amazing, duh).
On the opposite end of the Holy Fawn’s repertoire, “Take Me with You” could almost be an Explosions in the Sky post-rock song, though it sounds juuuuust a bit more foreboding than most of their catalog. It’s a beautiful, emotional song.
The beating heart of Death Spells, however, is “Seer.” At nearly eight minutes long, it builds momentum deliberately and then grinds to a halfway through. For a brief moment, we’re in the eye of the storm and all is calm. The drums return softly at first, then drive the song to a roaring crescendo that goes on for over a minute.
Death Spells transports you to a place that feels simultaneously haunting and welcoming, uneasy and warm. Or, in my case, it makes you feel like you’re walking in a dark forest, unsure of exactly how you’ll get out but vaguely comforted by the sound of wind rushing through an ancient tree canopy.
It all ended up being OK (spoiler). Before it got too dark, we found some power lines and followed them back to civilization. I’ll never forget that strange mix of anxiety and comfort I felt during those few hours when we were truly lost, and I’m grateful that artists like Holy Fawn can clearly evoke a feeling so difficult to describe.
Follow the Good Tunes for Dark Times Instagram or check out the playlist on Apple Music or Spotify, which is updated regularly (or whenever I get to it, cut me some slack, sheesh).
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