Having the ability to combine two very different genres into one’s own original style of music has always been able to set an artist apart. One of our favorite bands to do this is Birds Over Arkansas. We covered them last year and have been keeping an eye on them since.
The East Coast band consists of Scott Haskitt (guitar, lead vocals), Laura Hartshorn (keyboards/vocals), and John Mondick (guitar/mandolin/vocals) since the start in 2011 and in 2014 BOA added drummer Ryan Berg and bassist Chico Huff. Now the full band creates a full sound that mixes the seemingly opposite genres of Americana and Progressive rock.
About a week ago Birds Over Arkansas released the new single “Forgotten Lights”. The song tackles the difficult journey of helplessly watching a loved one slip into dementia. The mellow Americana groove at the start of the song lulls the listener into a relaxed state of being, The use of truly talented musicians that can get a beauty out of their instruments heightens this state. Once setting your mind at ease the song takes a turn with more progressive acoustic attack signifying the change of the subject turning the corner from a loved one to a completely different person. The cacophony of sounds meshed together with frenetic time signatures puts the listener right into this moment. Go get a listen and find out more at: http://birdsoverarkansas.com/
