On Feufollet's lastest disc, Cow Island Hop (Valcour Records), Kristi Guillory, a folklorist and media archivist at the University of Louisiana At Lafayette, paints a vivid narrative picture of this wonderfully innovative, contemporary Cajun outfit:
"On a Saturday night, twenty and thirtysomethings, scholars, writers, artists, bohemians and young professionals dance to Feufollet at the favorite local outdoor venue, The Blue Moon Saloon. Red and blue neon permeates the scene and, as the band pounds, the wooden deck of the dance floor threatens to crash to the ground or fly clear into th Louisiana sky. Here is a vortex of vibrant energy, a buzzing flow of youthful expression, a scene of endless possibility that can be found on any given weeken night in Lafayette, LA."
Guillory goes on to write that Feufollet has emerged as one of the most important voices for Louisiana's Cajun youth. Originally touted as a band of child prodigies -- singer/accordionist/guitarist Chris Stafford and fiddle player Chris Segura have been members since the band's inception in 1995 when they were 8 and 11 years old respectively -- Feufollet is no longer a troupe of debutantes solely steeped in tradition. The sextet has updated the Cajun sound for 21st century ears and dancin' feet with a rock-n-roll aesthetic and some strains of French chanson that are both mindful of the past and forward-looking. While Feufollet is first and foremost a live band, they've seamlessly translated that in-the-moment dirt and grit that comes from playing before an audience onto disc.
Listen for that fuzzed out Farfisa organ, the reworked archival gem "Femme l'a dit," the Mellotron and backward vocal track on "Chère Bèbè Crèole," or even the rambling "Sur la Bord de l'eau," and you'll soon realize that Cow Island Hop is not your typical Cajun album of standard two-steps and waltzes.
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