Bowerbirds Albums (2)
What The Critics Say
Upper Air, the Bowerbirds' second release, finds the band continuing in the vein of their first effort; this is rustic, cerebral, ramshackle music. You could call it beard rock -- it's the kind of backwoods, wild-poet-of-the-mountain sound that nods to Bon Iver, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, and Iron & Wine. What makes the Bowerbirds just a touch different lies in how manipulative their songs can be, which is just to say that there are times when Upper Air is exhilarating. "House of Diamonds," what with its stormy percussion and piano chords, and its blocky guitar riffs (so carefully amplified, it almost sounds like frontman Phil Moore is punching the strings), is, in its twine-rough, woodsy way, simply electrifying. Moments like this make it clear that the Bowerbirds are able to capture that certain, heart-snagging something -- it's the kind of thing that brings to mind Arcade Fire's best moments. The Bowerbirds really are at their best when they call up this quietly fiery side of their sound. "Ghost Life"'s wordless chorus (a series of triumphant oh's) shouldn't be as convincingly uplifting as it is -- but it is, and it's a testament to the Bowerbirds' creative chemistry and pop sensibilities. Upper Air only runs into trouble when the Bowerbirds get a little too introspective; some of the slow, meandering tracks here tend to get muddily dirge-like ("Chimes"). But this is a small issue in the wake of all the twisting, strange-hearted stuff this disc has to offer. Those who weren't so sure about the Bowerbirds before might change their tune with this release -- Upper Air is a luminous, wild-eyed affair, and a solid second album to boot. ~ Margaret Reges, All Music Guide
'Hymns for a Dark Horse'
Release Date 1/1/2007
Tracks 10
Label Burly Time
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Originally released in 2007 on the band's own Burly Time label and reissued the following year with two additional tracks, Hymns for a Dark Horse is that rarity, an album from the modern acid folk scene that doesn't sound like a hipster put-on by an act that five years before would have been trying to sound like the Strokes. Written when singer and guitarist Phil Moore and his girlfriend Beth Tacular were living in a remote rural cabin while Moore was working for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science, tracking and cataloguing local birds, these songs are suffused with avian and other natural imagery, but in a very natural way that doesn't smack of the classic old rock band cliché "getting our heads together in the country, maaaaaaaaaaaan." Songs like "Bur Oak" and "The Marbled Godwit" have enough of the verbal mystery of vintage folk tunes to connect them to a larger musical continuum than the likes of Joanna Newsom can manage. Though the hipsterish oddness of the songs' arrangements -- alongside Moore's vocals and guitar, Tacular plays accordion and wallops on an old-fashioned marching band-style bass drum to keep time -- and Moore and Tacular's typically unlovely indie rock voices keep Hymns for a Dark Horse from sounding like a new generation Dock Boggs, Hymns for a Dark Horse stays close to the folk side of the acid folk label. However, the two new songs on the Dead Oceans reissue, recorded after producer Mark Paulson joined the band as a full-time member, adding bass and drums to the duo's previously spartan sound, show that this vibe may now be a thing of the past. Though the dark, droning "Matchstick Maker" merely sounds like a slightly fuller and more menacing version of the rest of the album's signature sound, the full-band "La Denigracion" sounds straight out of Beirut's faux-European playbook. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
