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Music for Dead Birds "And Then it Rained for Seven Days"
Another tiny CD from the wonderful label that is Rusted Rail. It's amazing the amount of genius song writing and structure that is unveiled on the Music For Dead Birds album considering its tiny size - a mere 3 inches (and no rude comments please.) The press release informs me that the album was recorded in "various sheds and attics" and the music fits perfectly into these homely environs. Acoustic patterns knit warm, cozy comfort blankets of sound. An auditory trip through a rural acoustic electronic hinterlands. The natural elements intertwine with uplifting processed electronic beats that overall blissfully exudes and creates an air of alt country charm.
The album opens up with some perfectly ramshackle lo fi indie rock ala Pavement or Sebadoh before settling into a much more laid back
indie-folk mood. Sounding at times like some bedroom folky take on Grandaddy meets early Elliott Smith, the album will tick all the
right boxes for all you lovers of lo-fi indie sounds. Its got that lovely laidback loose kind of sound that will most definitely appeal
to early Yo La Tengo fans with just a hint at the weirder side of psych folk. The eight track mini album comes beautifullY packaged yet
again courtesy of Rusted Rail in a miniature 3 inch card sleeve. Pressed on a tiny little 3 inch cd this is another gem for collectors
of limited handmade editions.
"17" is the anthem for every boy and girl rocking harder in high school! Music for Dead Birds come out "smashin" on their release
"And then it rained for seven days…" on Rusted Rail Records. The additional album info describes the recording as taking place in
"various sheds, attics & bedrooms in Galway and Mayo." The end result represents clear intentions and highly creative songwriting
and recording techniques. Hailing from Galway Ireland, Music for Dead Birds create a sensual and driving folk influenced electric
guitar rock music. The Lyrics are captivating and the vocal delivery together creates a strong focal point for the listener.
Transitions between songs are surprising and make listening to this album refreshing and engaging. I appreciate the creative use
of digital sampling and electronic drum programming mixed with acoustic instruments and voice. This 20 minute 3" release feels
complete and sounds to me to be an important accomplishment for a band that I am sure has much more to come. I look forward to
future works by both this band and their label! 8/10
Music for Dead Birds. What a cheery moniker. These folks squeeze 8 songs onto this tiny disclet and name
it "And Then It Rained For Seven Days" As i'm off to Scotland on Saturday I'm hoping that isn't too prophetic.
The first tunelet sounds like early 90's NY style lo-fi, shouty, repetitive & noisy, stop start stuff. Hurts
my ears. 'What did you expect' recalls some of Sebadoh's earlier experiments in distorted confessional pop,
'The Sex' is a tender folkish chestbeater with a hearty vocal chant, some really emotive guitar picking and a
stunted primitive drum line. It gets folkier on the the sing-song 'To Grow Up Wet', the clickety dub laced
snare cracks on the eerie & quite wonderful 'Pill, Oh' are a fine backdrop to the hazy boy/girl vocals and a
shambling, meandering acoustic guitar. Fans of early Hood will REALLY like this one, it's boss. There's more
songs but I never tell you about them all. You'd have nothing to be surprised by. Worth it for 'Pill, Oh' alone.
Oh yes.
WhatMusic for Dead Birds are trying to do is channel as many different styles of music as possible into one album. They're a new band but already have an admirable number of listeners on one popular online music site. Those listeners have tagged them as punk,pop, folk, experimental, and acoustic. A bit incongruous - but true. The first song is '17' and it starts the album off with the Beatlesque declaration 'She was seventeen!' Several first-track reviews are prone to include a note along the lines of "it sets the tone for the rest of the album." But it should be made perfectly clear that '17' sounds nothing like the rest of the album. This is their 'punk, pop' bit. You brace yourself for the next song - 'What did you expect?' Certainly not this - it barely sounds like the band you heard 3 seconds ago. It's much mellower. The line 'I'm lying on the carpet, baby/looking like a pile of bones' tends to stay in your head, probably because of its partnership with the slow yet sticky guitar and drumbeat. 'Pill, Oh' sounds like a lullaby and with all this talk of falling asleep into the deep and being asked to come with him, it is perfect to drowse to. Just make sure you don't have the album on shuffle in case Track 1 comes on next. 'The Sex' - is an attractive, melodic number while 'To Grow Up Wet' accounts for the 'acoustic' tag. As for experimental, that's catered to by the last track which features the sinister opening monologue advising us to head to the country or the sea so as to avoid certain death. "And Then It Rained For Seven Days" sounds raw - it wasn't recorded professionally so it doesn't have any polish or gloss. It's just a couple of blokes making music wherever they can. It's refreshing and natural, for sure. But do they have the potential to make it big? That's hard to say - they are definitely good at being versatile.
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