Tu Fawning is the new project of Joe Haege and Corrina Repp. Both Haege and Repp have been playing in Portland and abroad for many years now. However, a mutual desire to achieve something outside the bounds of their other projects, 31knots (Haege) and Corrina Repp (Repp), lead both of them to begin collaboration on each other’s albums last year. One look at the liner notes finds Haege all over Corrina Repp’s 2006 Caldo Verde release, The Absent and The Distant. Then the roles reverse as Repp appeared on 31knots’ EP:Polemics (2006, Polyvinyl)and The Days and Nights Of Everything Anywhere (Polyvinyl, 2006).
Haege has also served as Repp’s backing “band” for tours they have done with Mark Kozelek and Norfolk and Western, playing drums, piano, samples and singing. This is truly when the ideas for what would become Tu Fawning began to take shape. As Corrina began to expand her songwriting abilities at a lightning pace, by way of writing and performing songs on piano as well as guitar, she also began to challenge/enjoy herself by learning to play drums.
Now with Haege and Repp fully realzing their pallette of piano, drums, percussion, guitar, vocals and samples, mutually and individually, they are finally able to tell the types of stories they have always wanted to, both lyrically and musically.
The end result is a hybrid of their own individual sounds coming together, but it feels and sounds so natural, as well as creating something more than the sum of it’s parts. Its as if the frantic nature of 31knots has caught its breath and Corrina Repp has found herself finally uninhibited to sing in front of some antiquated tribal music of hymns and ballads.Â
Soon after returning from their first tour, Haege and Repp realized that they wanted a sound that would not rely solely on gadgetry to feel organic and full. With 2 great friends and musicians already on the tips of both of their tongues, they quickly moved to ask Toussaint Perrault and Liza Reitz to join, adding horns/guitar and piano/ violin, respectively. Having both spent time in Portland mainstays (Rietz in Swords Project and Perrault in Ape Shape), the melding of the four came quite natural.
With the lineup so quickly forged into something very permanent, they recorded their first EP, entitled Secession. The EP was recorded by Kevin Robinson from Viva Voce, at his studio at Amore!Phonics. It was released on vinyl on May 13th via Portland based label Discourage. Polyvinyl will release the EP on CD on July 8th. This summer they will begin the process of recording their first full length, which promises to tap even deeper into the hauntingly beautiful landscape that is TU FAWNING.
Listen to “Out Like Bats” from the Secession EP: http://www.polyvinylrecords.com/media/Tu_Fawning-Out%20Like%20Bats.mp3
Tu Fawning On Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tufawning