Press Release
April 5, 2006

Faun Fables, a music/theater ensemble from Oakland, California, returns to South Carolina on April 29th to present their one-act song cycle "The Transit Rider". In their previous appearances in our area, they were seen as a duo, consisting of Dawn McCarthy (voice, guitar) and Nils Frykdahl (of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum; on voice, guitars, flute). On this tour, they are joined by Jenya Chernoff (drums/voice) and Matt Lebofsky (bass/keyboards/voice).

"The Transit Rider" draws from a theme that began in 1994, when Dawn was introduced to the New York City subway system in all its glory, and began writing about it. This evolved into a full length theater show, which was produced in San Francisco in 2002, and has since been further developed and expanded. Its soundtrack has been recorded, and the resulting cd will be released by Drag City in conjunction with (and available on) this tour.

Faun Fables' music has been described as "eccentric, orphan songs woven around primeval fairy tales", and is sometimes compared to that of Beth Orton, Peter Murphy, the Incredible String Band, Laurie Anderson, and even early Genesis. They have performed at the "All Tomorrow's Parties" festival in the UK, as well as many other distinguished and not-so-distinguished venues in the US and Europe.

The evening's festivities will begin with a short overture, performed by Columbia's own bi-coastal electro-acoustic new-music ensemble bigSphinx, featuring Ri Crawford on elecric guitar and laptop, and Tom Law on keyboard and laptop.

The show will begin at 9:00, at the Columbia Music Festival Association, at 914 Pulaski Street. It is open to music and theater lovers of all ages, although it must be said that an entrance fee of $10 will be collected.

Attendance is mandatory.

Further information can be obtained on the "World Wide Web" at www.bigSphinx.com/faunfables or www.faunfables.net; or by using a telephone to dial (803) 957-5565.