Praise Of Folly

Praise Of Folly is the gothic post punk band of California based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Thomas McFarlan. Originally led by Thomas in his early college years in the 1990s, he was more recently compelled to take up the torch of Praise Of Folly again, so many years later, after an ongoing personal tragedy led him back to serious songwriting in the late 2010s and he became fascinated by the gothic cinematic works of the modernist filmmaker Maya Deren. Praise Of Folly’s gothic post punk sound has an inventive and eclectic character to it that combines a hypnotic gothic post punk aesthetic with art rock sensibility—leaving common gothic music clichés in the dust. The vocals are performed with a warm baritone tenor that soars and weaves in dynamic resonance with the guitars. The instrumental side of the equation is driven by intricate and captivating guitar and bass passages, but also relies on keyboard synthesis at times for texture and atmosphere, while pounding asymmetrical drum beats meld with the bass, guitars, keys and vocals, bringing all the sounds together in time into undeniably captivating music. B-Side Magazine, one of the largest and most respected alternative rock magazines of the 1990s, described Praise Of Folly this way: “On their album “Disillusioned”, Praise Of Folly hold on to the dark atmosphere without getting overly dramatic or becoming a self parody. Instead the trio fronted by the vocals of Thomas soars even while exploring the depths. This one lingers at the mouth of the cave, still able to marvel over the beauty of the darkness while enjoying a breath of fresh air. Here’s the future kids.” In the 1990s era, Praise Of Folly headlined numerous small shows in the Southern California area, and at one point after an influential post-punk DJ in Mexico discovered the band, they were promoted heavily there and then flown to Mexico City to headline a pair of large scale shows for the region’s very enthusiastic post-punk fans. Additionally, Praise Of Folly was selected by legendary Los Angeles based post-punk artist Rozz Williams, to be the one and only opening act for his historic Christian Death reunion show at the Los Angeles Patriotic Hall in 1993. Praise Of Folly were signed to Michael Saint Thomas Records in the 1990s and released the first version of their full length album Disillusioned in 1995 with the support of the label. Currently, Thomas has dramatically remastered and partially remixed the band’s Disillusioned album, then combined it with all new cover artwork and deluxe packaging for a special October 2021 release of the album on BandCamp in Digital Download and Compact Disc formats. He’s also currently working on writing and recording new songs for Praise Of Folly, as well as, a brand new music project under the moniker of Zephyr Wren.