Tu Fawning is the new project of Joe Haege and Corrina Repp. Both Haege and Repp have been playing in Portland and abroad for many years now. However, a mutual desire to achieve something outside the bounds of their other projects, 31Knots (Haege) and Corrina Repp (Repp), lead both of them to begin collaboration on each other's albums last year. One look at the liner notes finds Haege all over Corrina Repp's 2006 Caldo Verde release, The Absent and The Distant. Then the roles reverse as Repp appeared on 31Knots' EP:Polemics (2006, Polyvinyl)and The Days and Nights Of Everything Anywhere (Polyvinyl, 2006).

Haege has also served as Repp's backing "band" for tours they have done with Mark Kozelek and Norfolk and Western, playing drums, piano, samples and singing. This is truly when the ideas for what would become Tu Fawning began to take shape. As Corrina began to expand her songwriting abilities at a lightning pace, by way of writing and performing songs on piano as well as guitar, she also began to challenge/enjoy herself by learning to play drums.

Now with Haege and Repp fully realizing their palette of piano, drums, percussion, guitar, vocals and samples, mutually and individually, they are finally able to tell the types of stories they have always wanted to, both lyrically and musically.

The end result is a hybrid of their own individual sounds coming together, but it feels and sounds so natural, as well as creating something more than the sum of it's parts. Its as if the frantic nature of 31Knots has caught its breath and Corrina Repp has found herself finally uninhibited to sing in front of some antiquated tribal music of hymns and ballads.

Soon after returning from their first tour, Haege and Repp realized that they wanted a sound that would not rely solely on gadgetry to feel organic and full. With two great friends and musicians already on the tips of both of their tongues, they quickly moved to ask Toussaint Perrault and Liza Reitz to join, adding horns/guitar and piano/violin, respectively. Having both spent time in Portland mainstays (Rietz in Swords Project and Perrault in Ape Shape), the melding of the four came quite natural.

Blacks& started as a late night living room recording project, fueled by whiskey and head-nods in the summer of 2011. Donald Eley (The Sea of Cortez) and Tiger (NazcarNation, The Sea of Cortez) passed instruments back and forth while vagabond (and spiritual guide) Jutty Shark gave the tracks a Midas sheen with sun inspired vocals. Blending island pop with refined, angular grooves, Blacks& are carving out their own nook in the LA music scene. The group rounded out its rhythm section by bringing on Jutty's childhood friend Jules Bellin (POLLS) to play drums. Blacks& will be releasing their debut EP, filled with stairwell vocals, subtle synths, and laid-back funk beats in spring of 2012.