Tag: Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers

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Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers: Flugelhorn and Folktales


By Adrienne Yeung
This may be their first full-length album, but Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers are no newcomers to music in any sense. The classically trained sextet combines elements of jazz, pop, and gypsy folk to create an old-world influenced, complex, and orchestral sound that’s incredibly rich and gorgeous. They released their self-titled EP in August 2008, and performed hit show The Wild Things at the Fringe Festival last summer. Stylus joined lead vocalist Jesse Krause and keyboardist Darren Grunau for breakfast at the Ellice Café to chat about their new album Hans My Lion, which was released March 15.

Stylus: How would you guys describe your sound?
Darren Grunau: Big band burlesque?
Jesse Krause: BOLD big-band burlesque.
DG: Yeah, get some more ‘b’s in there!
Stylus: Hans My Lion, the character, was born from a human mother, and is very isolated and angry at the world. How did you think him up?
JK: Hans My Lion is based on Hans My Hedgehog, a German folk tale that was collected by the Brothers Grimm. Yeah, it’s a very similar story but with a hedgehog instead of a lion. He’s not ostracized for anything that he’s actually done, but Hans My Lion does something bad in the middle of the album that forces him to leave.
DG: Hans My Hedgehog rode a giant rooster! You know, just a point of interest. Which Jesse neglected to include in the album!! Continue reading “Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers: Flugelhorn and Folktales”

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Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers – Hans My Lion


Don’t get me wrong: There is a distinct lack of hose and medieval gallivanting on this album, but nevertheless, what Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers’ first full-length album immediately brings to mind is a dark and obscure folk tale with origins somewhere in the 10th century. What does this sound like? Dark and jazzy, salacious and circusy, ravenously passionate pop. The classically trained sextet behind this sound commands instruments such as glockenspiel, guitar, accordion, keyboard, cymbals, violin, trumpet, and saxophone that burst into musical richness inside your brain. Lead vocalist Jesse Krause’s elastic voice growls low and rough at times, but in the next second swoops quivering up the scales. The poetic lyrics are a joy to read. “Nurse” is lewd, dark, and juicy, and contains one of the best moments on the record – a rare moment free of instruments that’s like suddenly being alone in a room with Jekyll who transforms into grinning Hyde. Here, Krause sounds lasciviously desperate and menacingly violent before breaking into full-blown mania. This album is busy – a massive understatement – and it’s sometimes hard to tell where songs begin and end. Listening to this will make you want to run out of your apartment to dance in a fire with woodland animals, caring only about the moment.That’s the spirit of Hans my Lion, and he lives whenever you do. (Head in the Sand, www.headinthesand.ca) Adrienne Yeung