Adam Pfleider
06/25/08, 01:21 PM
Birds of Avalon - Outer Upper Inner
Record Label: Volcom Entertainment
Release Date: March 18, 2008
Hearing nothing about Birds of Avalon, I didn't know what to expect from the follow-up EP to 2007's Bazaar Bazaar. Also, I just assumed it would be punk rock being from the Volcom Entertianment imprint. But like my high school geometry teacher used to keep yelling at me every morning, "Never assume!"
She was an absolute loon, but her words stick here. Honestly, not hearing the 2007 debut, Outer Upper Inner is great indie rock fun. I can see why Mudhoney would want to bring these guys on tour. The EP sounds like an easy, but cool-running night in whatever downtown area you may live around, even if you live in the middle of absolute nowhere.
Spanning in at little under a half-hour, the album shoves off some great riffs: some memorable, others not so much. "A Measure of the Same" has a great opening/reoccurring guitar lick, but the title says it for the rest of the song. It's good, but a little loose from being absolutely solid. The change-ups in the composition are what make the it, but they're gone before you can really enjoy its stint.
"Shaky Tiger" has an early Beatles' throwback feel, but is the most forgettable of the record. But don't discourage, "Earthbound" is the band in their shining moment. Great back beat on the drums; simple, but very catchy guitar lines infused with smooth transitional effects throughout; vocal rhythms that are more catchy than the instrumental ones. "Earthbound" is the height of the night out, and this record. Even the guitar solo that wraps up the end isn't worth writing off, just riding on.
"Hazy 98" shows off a quaint piano ditty backed by some psychedelia and horns and is completely opposite of its follow-up track "The Reeds," a frantic fun punk number in the vein of popping a cork of champagne, and the hour that follows. "Keep It Together, Thackery" is were the night, and this album concludes. That hazy drive home (hopefully as a passenger), thinking of the lack of sleep you're going to receive before work the next day. You'll be strutting along to your pillow with each bass line and snare hit. That last hit of horns and the psychedelic freakout is the flashback of the last three hours of the night before your brain shuts itself off.
Birds of Avalon has caught my attention with some standout points on the EP, and might make a good soundtrack for an upcoming Saturday night after work.
Clinic's Walking with Thee; Destroyer's Trouble in Dreams; Pretty Girls Make Graves' Elan Vital
myspace.com/birdsofavalon (http://www.myspace.com/birdsofavalon)
Record Label: Volcom Entertainment
Release Date: March 18, 2008
Hearing nothing about Birds of Avalon, I didn't know what to expect from the follow-up EP to 2007's Bazaar Bazaar. Also, I just assumed it would be punk rock being from the Volcom Entertianment imprint. But like my high school geometry teacher used to keep yelling at me every morning, "Never assume!"
She was an absolute loon, but her words stick here. Honestly, not hearing the 2007 debut, Outer Upper Inner is great indie rock fun. I can see why Mudhoney would want to bring these guys on tour. The EP sounds like an easy, but cool-running night in whatever downtown area you may live around, even if you live in the middle of absolute nowhere.
Spanning in at little under a half-hour, the album shoves off some great riffs: some memorable, others not so much. "A Measure of the Same" has a great opening/reoccurring guitar lick, but the title says it for the rest of the song. It's good, but a little loose from being absolutely solid. The change-ups in the composition are what make the it, but they're gone before you can really enjoy its stint.
"Shaky Tiger" has an early Beatles' throwback feel, but is the most forgettable of the record. But don't discourage, "Earthbound" is the band in their shining moment. Great back beat on the drums; simple, but very catchy guitar lines infused with smooth transitional effects throughout; vocal rhythms that are more catchy than the instrumental ones. "Earthbound" is the height of the night out, and this record. Even the guitar solo that wraps up the end isn't worth writing off, just riding on.
"Hazy 98" shows off a quaint piano ditty backed by some psychedelia and horns and is completely opposite of its follow-up track "The Reeds," a frantic fun punk number in the vein of popping a cork of champagne, and the hour that follows. "Keep It Together, Thackery" is were the night, and this album concludes. That hazy drive home (hopefully as a passenger), thinking of the lack of sleep you're going to receive before work the next day. You'll be strutting along to your pillow with each bass line and snare hit. That last hit of horns and the psychedelic freakout is the flashback of the last three hours of the night before your brain shuts itself off.
Birds of Avalon has caught my attention with some standout points on the EP, and might make a good soundtrack for an upcoming Saturday night after work.
Clinic's Walking with Thee; Destroyer's Trouble in Dreams; Pretty Girls Make Graves' Elan Vital
myspace.com/birdsofavalon (http://www.myspace.com/birdsofavalon)