White Birds – When Women Played Drums
Philly’s White Birds released a tantalising EP in 2011 and they’ve now delivered on their stirring full length, “When Women Played Drums”. The four piece borrow from a variety of genres-from folk to shoe gaze to lo fi to doo wop-yet the sound is cohesive and rich, the ten songs combine to form a brilliant album. “Hondora” is one of the high points-a perfect pop song bursting with soaring harmonies and sunshine, powered by a classic bass line. Like Canadian popsters Shimmering Stars,White Birds incorporate elements of 50’s pop and soul into a modern indie sound, though the Philly group apply a heavier dose of reverb and distortion their jangly tunes. They also delve into more diverse musical realms – from the dark electro of “Mirrors in Mirrors” and the hymnal “Body When You Coming Back”, to the cracked folk of “Veins Lined in Rust”, the album experiments with a range of styles while remaining immensely listenable. A stunning release from White Birds, one of the finest of the young year.
MPSO – Wisdom Teeth
Daniel Gray of Memoryhouse has ventured out alone to make a soaring, ethereal release that lingers somewhere between reality and the nether regions of dreams. Wisdom Teeth shimmers in a hazy distance; delicate whammy-drenched guitars melding with synth and Gray’s mournful, distorted vocal tracks. There’s a plaintive simplicity to the songwriting here, best revealed in the country and tremolo tinged ‘Let Go’, where piano and cinematic strings give way to Gray harmonising with himself: ‘darling, I can’t be found. Let me love anyway. Let go.’ This is something to sleep to, to fall away from the everyday toils of life with, in a steamy etherworld of layered sound and distant loss.
Field Trip – Cream EP
Melbourne’s Field Trip have a fairly low local profile which makes their debut EP even more seizing: it’s a four track journey into the formative years of manhood, all fresh love and disappointments. Cream captures the dreamy psychedelia of the sixties; rich guitars and lazy vocals meshed with grubby, distorted nineties shoe gaze. Although the release is marked low-fi the production values are great- this is always a nice surprise amongst the innumerable (albeit wonderful!) bedroom recordings Bandcamp has to offer. There’s a great youth to Cream, but instead of naivety it reflects a measured introspection. One for back-alley wanders in the early hours of the evening.
