There was a time when listening to alternative music meant you were venturing away from the repetitive, corporate stylings prescribed by mainstream labels and their producers. Thankfully, for anyone who still views the category this way, there is Blynd Birds.
Their new album “Songs to Sink Yachts to” jumps off the deck of genre definitions while maintaining a sincerity and grit that keeps the listener’s fists white-knuckled onto heavy, pulsating anchors. As the fowl are pelting one’s audio windows, one detects slight shades of Collective Soul, The Strokes, The National, Modest Mouse, Jack White, and Cold War Kids (“This reviewer was able to catch Cold War Kids in L.A. on the front row, and these birds seems to have all the punch-capability of a show like that). Furthermore, all the aforementioned is peppered with hints of classic Abbey Road vibes. Suffice it to say, this is just a day in the life for Blynd Birds.
The opening instrumental track “Mr. Abbot’s Misogyny Emporium” burns the listener’s painted horses with a production contrast cocktail of post-punk and a lo-fi toying of ska. From it, one is exposed to singer Jared Blair’s trumpet playing prowess. Being that you are now on fire, the album then immediately splashes you with the brilliant, second number “Hand in the Till.” This is a Strokes-like jaunt accompanied with a Farfisa (carousel?) type organ riff that keeps you kicking with delight.
‘Hate For Hire’ from Blynd Birds
“Hate for Hire” then dials it back with a delicately sensitive, two-octave vocal confessional reminiscent of Matt Berninger. The thought provoking lyrics are about a “rich man’s side show” where, even though living in a Ground Hog Day, he can’t even see his own shadow. How a song like this can conclude with a dulcimer makes perfect sense for Blynd Birds. The outro is fitting for our sight-impaired, feathered friends, whose album, though crunched out with a well-versed, savvy, guitar/bass/drums power trio, continually serves hors d’oeuvres of songwriting, arrangement, and production nuances that keep its guests well-equipped to be capsized from the normal listening experience.
Be encouraged right now to just taste and slowly savor this album to its fullest. Enjoy its tube-amped, analog- delayed, tactile, blues-ladened, jack whited-out, Dark Side of the Sabbath-ed, Rickenbacker tremolo’d, Hammond-varianced instrumentalization. Remember to swallow the harmonized vocals through multi-layered effect boxes – culminating with a stripped-down, acoustic love ballad moment.
Trust me, by the time you realize Your Bath is Boiling, you’ll want to climb on board again to jump off into another listening experience of Blynd Bird’s “Songs to Sink Yachts to.”
Keep with more from Blynd Birds HERE.
