Fauna
Fauna uses animals as a way to approach human concerns, but its most persuasive arguments are musical. Haken give the songs different kinds of movement and character, allowing the theme to create variety rather than force every piece into one continuous story.
Taurus begins with a heavy, sharply patterned attack. The vocal melody provides a clear route through the rhythm, and the performance establishes an immediate physical energy. Nightingale finds a more intricate relationship between keyboards and the heavier band sound, with the opening's unusual shape remaining important as the arrangement grows.
The Alphabet of Me is an especially appealing change of perspective. Its electronic colours and direct chorus give the album a lighter surface, while the rhythmic details keep that accessibility from becoming predictable. Lovebite uses another bright melody to carry a darker subject. The mismatch is effective because the song remains enjoyable before its implications become clear.
Sempiternal Beings offers one of the strongest connections between complexity and feeling. The drumming keeps changing the song's balance, yet the chorus and guitar expression give those shifts a recognisable emotional purpose. Haken's playing is formidable, but the track succeeds through the way its different parts make the same tension feel larger.
Elephants Never Forget gives the band's theatrical instincts their broadest setting. The extended arrangement moves between playful voices, heavy passages and more expansive melodies with considerable imagination. Some transitions are more striking than necessary, but the song has enough individual ideas to make its restless shape involving. Eyes of Ebony then finds a more reflective ending, allowing clean guitar and a measured vocal to bring the album toward a quieter resolution.
The range is both Fauna's strength and its small weakness. The different approaches do not always create a smooth sequence, yet they keep revealing another worthwhile part of the band's personality. Its most direct songs are carefully made, and its difficult ones contain real melodic rewards. Haken make an imaginative record that stays interesting through the character of its individual pieces.
