Breakfast in Fur
Biography
Breakfast In Fur began as a recording project between Dan Wolfe and Kaitlin Van Pelt in the burgeoning music scene of New Paltz, NY. With the inclusion of friend and guitarist Michael Hollis Breakfast In Fur was truly born. The band’s first release was an eponymous EP that came out on 10” vinyl on Analog Edition Records in 2011. Sonically the EP is a self-contained universe of jangly guitar, children’s toy sounds, layered percussion, droning accordion and Wolfe and Van Pelt’s soft, whispered vocals.
Following the release of the Breakfast In Fur E.P. Wolfe, Van Pelt and Hollis were writing new material and experimenting with various collaborators as they played shows around the Hudson Valley and in New York City. Together with Chris Walker, Matt Ross and Sandy Davis, Breakfast In Fur started working on the recordings that would become their debut full-length album Flyaway Garden. Along the way the group enlisted many other friends to contribute various instrumentation on the recordings.
Releases
Flyaway Garden
While maintaining elements of the pastoral folk of their first EP on songs like “Portrait" and “Whisper,” Flyaway Garden also sees the band moving into more aggressive, punk influenced territories with tracks such as “Shape" and "Setting Stone.” British IDM and ambient music play a significant role on their new album, most notably in the electronic textures that accent, and occasionally envelop these recordings. Mostly self-produced in Van Pelt and Wolfe’s home, Flyaway Garden presents a nuanced, idiosyncratic production. As Pitchfork Media wrote in their review of the album, “Flyaway Garden makes an airtight case for Breakfast In Fur’s atmospheric allure and mastery of mood.”
Commenting on the lyrical content of their latest album in the Miscreant Fanzine Breakfast In Fur noted that “the new record has a lot of songs about time and identity— like when you look at a photograph of yourself as a child... how are you that person? There’s a lot about that kind of feeling.” These questions of identity and the passing of time crop up all over Flyaway Garden. Tellingly, the cover art (created by Van Pelt) features a small child engulfed in a stream of flowing colors, an image that conjures Breakfast In Fur’s psychedelic vision, as well as layers of stratum that depict the passing of geological time.
Flyaway Garden marks Breakfast In Fur’s transition from the quiet bedroom folk of their first EP into the experimental psychedelic rock of their new album. Now performing live featuring Dan Wolfe (guitar/vocals), Kaitlin Van Pelt (synths/vocals), Mike Hollis (lead guitar/bass), and Chris Walker (drums).
