Fian is a band based in Seattle, Orcas Island, and LA. From day one, Fian has pursued its chaotic and flagrant vision with an adamantine belligerence. For better or for worse, Fian has never considered any tastes beyond their own. The result is something out of place and time, something that doesn’t make much sense. They tend to create songs in linear structures that twist and convulse their way through polyvalent lyrical narratives, varying time and key signatures, and musical styles.
Low end virtuoso, Harrison Scannell leads the musical side of things on bass, Chapman stick, and Warr guitar with the occasional brass instrument to round it out. Drummer and gear nerd, Christian Rider uses his jazz background and subtle empathic touch to give a soft thrum or resounding thunder to the songs as they require. Robert Keene, lives in the woodshed and applies a dense knowledge of theory along with a demented imagination to give every melody a startling counterpoint. Joshua Nelson takes the sustained tone of Gilmour as his starting point and infuses jazz, metal, world music scales, and pedal alchemy to bind everything together with a beautiful distorted ¼”. Vocalist Jonathan Wilson uses the full breadth of his five octave range to whisper, scream, croon, and bellow his way through dense lyrical passages in lively conversation with existential philosophy, the modernists, the Bible, and of course Dostoevsky. Fian attempts to deftly dodge the various generic manacles that get bandied about but if under duress, they might consent to be under the wide umbrella of the term “progressive” though their lineage stems much more from King Crimson than Genesis or Yes. They are also heavily influenced by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, MewithoutYou, The Mountain Goats, and Sondheim.
Personnel:
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Harry Scannell — Bass, Chapman Stick, Warr Guitar
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Robert Keene — Piano, organ, synths
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Christian Rider — Percussion
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Jonathan Wilson — Vocals
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