FABELS

Fabels is a 2 piece band that play original, experimental, progressive, dreamscape music with dynamic arrangements. Their performance is often coloured by projections which enhance the intensity and melody of their unique sound. Live they have been joined by guest musician Tim Powles from the Church on drums / samples and electronics since 2020.

8 Dec 2023 Fabels supported L7 on their world tour in Sydney.

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​Fabels have recently released their 4th album 'Ophera' (6/3/2026) and is now touring Australia to Promote it

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Formed in Sydney in late 2010, the band has toured extensively throughout Australia and Europe and have released 3 albums "Zimmer" and "Hi". They released their 3rd album "Minds" on Sept 10th 2021,

The album is released on the Qusp Label.

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Link to order limited edition digipack cs's of Ophera: https://fabels.bandcamp.com/album/ophera​

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Link order for Vinyl (Minds)

 https://www.thegroovemerchants.com/Product/97279

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All CD's and  digital releases and T shirts available at

https://fabels.bandcamp.com

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*****Album OPHERA released 6 March 2026​

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Amazing Review of Fabels new album "Ophera" 9/10 by esteemed Walkley award winning journalist Mike Gee,  🥰

"Outstanding, world-class Australian music from two of its finest creators. 9/10.

Ben Aylward has never made a fuss. He’s that kind of guy. That kind of musician. In the 1990s he co-helmed the brilliant trio, Swirl, delivering - out of nowhere it almost seemed - one of the 10 greatest Australian albums, The Last Unicorn, of all-time. Part-pop, part-rock, part-shoegaze, part-soundscape, it is a one of a kind in the Australian music lexicon.

Swirl didn’t know what they created then but the pure freedom of being under no musical constraints in their early 20s and on a label with a track record for taking chances, Nic Dalton’s Half A Cow, meant that what they captured left music industry gurus young and old speechless and fans stunned. I was one of them. Today, 32 years later, The Last Unicorn remains a magnificent achievement, a timeless work of art. Unfortunately, Ben (guitar, vocals) and his fellow creators, Nicola Shultz (bass and vocals) and David Lord (drums) have long gone their separate ways, Swirl with them. Nicola left in 1997 and Ben and David followed when version two of the band parted ways in 2002.

Aylward went quiet for a while after a flirtation with the Sydney indie pop band, Beautiful World, finally resurfacing in 2010 with Dutch-born Hiske Weijers, a wonderfully inventive ethereal vocalist who also plays keys and loops. Fabels is Ben and Hiske’s sonic dream band. With Hiske he’s spent more than 15 years exploring soundscapes that live in beds of invention that cross the musical spectrum. Fabels can be genteel, beautiful, brutal. Their new album, Ophera, is all of that and more.

Ophera devolves to minimalism over the first four pieces - the title track, Luister, Fragments, Ancient - each more minimal and fragile than the previous air. The opener is a pastoral atmosphere riding a steady beat as the duo weave a magical backdrop and Hiske sings effortlessly over the top. Utterly bewitching. Magnificent. The next three pieces each create their own space, quieter and more vast. Music to immerse yourself in. Give it the time to weave its strange beauty.

Nova shimmers, the first of three tracks that define the core of Ophera. It walks gracefully, on a gentle rhythm to Reifen, the album's most devolved sonic moment. Over seven minutes chaos creeps in until dissonance takes over. A nightmare in Fabels garden of delights. Akron follows, a militaristic, marching, post-rock anthem. Play it loud. Several times. You will be hooked.

Pieces is a spacial step back, a moment of reflectivity that guides Ophera to its final moment, the exquisite Alamay. Set against Ben’s chugging guitar it’s a simple, rhythmic, thoughtful, farewell.

Touch points for those who need to align this album with the work of others: Sigur Ros, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, touches of Dead Can Dance, the darker, more symphonic moments, of Swirl, Krautrock - think Neu, Sand, even Popol Vuh, Slowdive, and Dutch experimental outfits such as The Ex and Legendary Pink Dots.

Fabels music has been called dream pop but that really doesn’t do it justice. Their dreamscapes on Ophera combine into an ethereal, otherworldly opera, that could be performed with a symphony orchestra. Alternatively, you could develop a modern ballet around it. Yes, it’s that good.

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Ophera is a triumph, a breathtaking statement of imagination that never veers into cliche or repetition. It requires, like all good music, repeated listens. The band say, “This album is designed for the listener to take some time with it, it's not fast, let it overtake you slowly!”. It’s good advice.

Hiske and Ben’s Ophera is of the real world, of now and the darkness that’s swirls disturbed and ugly around the globe, and it is redolent of, as its makers say, “an old ancient world long gone”, perhaps, where faerie and ghosts beckon you in, or where space really is the final frontier. Enjoy the trip.

Outstanding, world-class Australian music from two of its finest creators. 9/10.
 

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****Album MINDS released 2022

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Fabels’ new album Minds is a journey into atmospheres, dreamscapes, repetition and multilingual vocals with electronics, keys and sometimes angular and shoegaze guitar sounds.

The album creates a reality set in its own time and space, its lyrical content is purposely abstract to blend into the music and to inspire the listener to make up their own meaning.

Recorded over three years with Icelandic music producer Geir Brillian Gunnarsson, the album is a true labour of love and reveals itself to be a strong artistic statement.

‘Minds’ is a direct and focused work that keeps originality and imagination alive!

This is Fabels’ third album and their first release on vinyl though the Qusp label.

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The images on this page are the album art for albums Ophera, MNDS,  and singles ShereKhan, Piccolo and Waiting.