New Country – Birdmonster
Back in the old days, there were “blog bands” – a phenomenon which appears to have peaked in 2006, when the music-blogging world was small enough that waves could really take hold. One of the big examples was Birdmonster who rose to fame on the back of a 3-song EP and some good live shows. When their full-length appeared, it received some rave reviews from the blog world (including right here), but by the end of the year it seemed like people had sort of moved on.
Not me, though. I still enjoy No Midnight a lot and listen to it regularly. And “Balcony” remains one of the finest songs of this decade in my book. So I was pretty excited to hear that they would be releasing their sophomore record. The thing is that while From the Mountain to the Sea is a pretty good record, it doesn’t carry anything close to the same rush of their debut.
Part of the problem is that the Americana elements which were strong influences before are now pretty much the whole show. And while that’s not necessarily a problem, they are a far, far better band when they’re letting everything loose. Where this record suffers is on the slower tracks that tread dangerously close to the world of mid-tempo drabness. A related problem is that on most tracks, the vocals are the absolute focal point, which is precisely the opposite of how it should be. I like his voice alright, but Peter Arcuni is not a crooner by any stretch. He sounds best when battling against the crashing of guitars and drums – something which happens all too rarely this time around. Mostly, I agree with Eric that it “needs a little kick in the ass.”
All that said, this remains a very solid record – and one that grows on you if you have a little bit of patience. Plus, “New Country” reveals that the more melodic driven structure I was complaining about actually can produce an absolutely stunning song when it works out right. The interplay between the vocals, the guitars, the touches of the keyboard, and the insistent percussion works almost to perfection. On the other side of the equation, “Iditarod” is a barn-burner of a track – every bit as powerful as their earlier stuff.
I saw them in San Francisco a month or two back and I can tell you that some of these songs sound a LOT better in the less restrained context of a live show. I definitely think this is a record that would have sounded better without the accoutrements of a studio. As it is, it’s a somewhat flawed, but occasionally very powerful album from a band I will continue to expect great things from.