Band Review PETER AND THE WOLF riyl: daniel johnston, tom waits, iron & wine words: john watson / photography: steve chevez

There is beauty in simplicity. Performing experimental folk as Peter and the Wolf,
guitarist/vocalist Red Hunter has given additional credence to this age-old adage.


On Peter and the Wolf’s first self-titled LP, stringed instruments are plucked and strummed delicately, leaving plenty of room for Hunter and accompanying singer Dana Falconberry to vocalize the fragile melodies. Thank goodness for the space, as there is a magical chemistry between the two singers that defies description as they unite in hallowed harmony. In many ways, “hymn” seems a more fitting description than “song,” and, likewise, “poetry” more apt than “lyrics.” The words are shrouded in mystery, as on “Strange Eyes,” with its sole repeated line, “Strange eyes older than the hills, I know we are.” But Peter and the Wolf is not limited to lyrical mystique. Hunter has chosen unconventional locations for live performances (cemeteries, abandoned buses and an island reachable by canoe) among many others. Peter and the Wolf’s biography describes the ritual that Hunter carries out to write their songs, involving not only “the blood of a coyote, the bones of a sewer rat, and the marrow of a blind possum,” but also nudity, possession and “branded flesh.” Let us hope that, whatever it takes to make this profoundly beautiful and haunting music, Hunter continues doing it.