Premiere: Noah and the MegaFauna, ‘When You’re Down (The Slackjaw’s Serenade)’

Kevin Bronson on October 4th, 2011

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As frontman of the late Oliver Future, Noah Lit helped forge indie rock for sophisticates, a mission that suffered mainly for lack of sophisticates. The Austin ex-pat, along with his brother and ex-Oliver Future bandmate Joshua, isn’t dumbing it down any with his new project Noah and the Megafauna. On their debut album “Anthems for a Stateless Nation,” Lit and his merry band of adventurers (10 in all) dive into the world of gypsy jazz, upright bass thrumming, strings whirring and horns blaring. It’s a dizzying journey on which you’ll swear you will have heard a marching band, Spanish guitar and crooning/kittenish boy/girl vocals. As with his rock band, Lit’s barbed-wire thematic material runs along the lines of dire, socio-political broadsides, but abetted by MegaFauna compatriots such as bassists Shiben Battacharaya, drummer Chris Lovejoy and percussionist Travis Knight (along with an eclectic group of guests), you get the feeling that “Anthems for a Stateless Nation” isn’t a bad way to serenade the apocalypse.

||| Download: “When You’re Gone (The Slackjaw’s Serenade)”