Charles Fauna has released “Church” – the second single from twelve-track, episodic debut album, Yonder, out April 17 on Sleep Well Records.
Fauna uses “Church” to highlight the way that dark thoughts spiral around your head, exploding like bursts of thunder and lightning from a raincloud of negativity that showers down on your otherwise sunny day. There is no umbrella big enough to shield you from the onslaught of self-doubt. You’re a hostage to your anxiety and there is no reality loud enough to drown out the noise. Through a wall of sound of voices around the three-minute mark, Fauna illustrates how the uncertainties inside our head can blur our path to greatest, despite have greatness buried inside us.
That horizon point never waivers throughout each of the 12 episodic tracks on Yonder. Fauna has used the album and the concepts found within it as a tool to help build a community and conversation at a time when embracing each other is as important as ever. Like previously released tracks “Listen” and “Apollo,” Fauna hoped that “Church” might highlight the harmony between life’s euphoric swells and unmistakable despairs and serve as a call to arms for us to actively embrace community…especially now, in a time where we find ourselves practicing social distance.
Yonder follows a sliver of humanity selected to leave a devastated, apocalyptic Earth behind to start a new community on Mars called “Project Yonder.” Our 16 year old protagonist questions humanity and is appalled by her fellow travelers who refuse to reflect on the selfish excessiveness and gluttony that led to Earth’s inhabitability. Rejecting “Project Yonder” and its patrons, she steals a small spaceship and sets off in search of a more forward-thinking environment. Eventually she discovers planet Neon Eden, a nirvana with pink skies, lush fields of lavender and orange and bioluminescent wildlife. Perfection? Not quite, living in paradise without family, friends and even those she held in disdain, is not the answer. In the end she returns to civilization with a renewed appreciation for what drives humanity — interpersonal connection, community and love.