Since joining talents in Oakland in the late '90s, Dawn McCarthy and Nils Frykdahl have been making ornate, finely hued neo-folk music that draws on songwriting traditions, particularly British pastoral music. McCarthy always gets the little details right; the gently plucked, oscillating chords of "Eyes of a Bird" reverberate so evocatively one can smell the dew on an English countryside. But Faun Fables never treat the past like a museum, as "House Carpenter" springs to life via booming percussion and eerie, chanting vocals.