Feufollet preview

Feufollet
Dawes Park, Evanston
Sunday, July 20, 2008

It’s not hard to imagine Anne Rice’s vampire, Lestat, sulking in the dark corners of a Louisiana dance hall scoping out the lean necks of his potential victims with Feufollet’s music driving the activity.

The six-member collective proudly wears its heritage as a badge of honor and sticks closely to Cajun music’s longstanding traditions. On the band’s fourth full-length, Cow Island Hop (Valcour), co-founders Chris Segura’s and Chris Stafford’s fiddle and accordion, respectively, take center stage while Anna Laura Edmiston’s whooping vocals imbue the proceedings with an air of mystery.

Or maybe it’s just because all the lyrics are in French that allows the songs to stand solely on their own. With its mixture of traditional ballads and original numbers, the album is a swinging good time and also a snapshot of the musicians’ individual growth – the Chris-es started the group before they even reached their teenage years, and drummer Michael Stafford is barely out of high school.

Today the 20-somethings bring the microcosm of the Bayou to a wider audience. The juxtaposition of the penny carnival “Prends Courage” and an iPod is disconcerting at first. The group might dwell in a technological age, but its heart would find refuge in a stack of vinyl.

Appearing as part of the Evanston Ethnic Arts Festival.

— Janine Schaults

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly