BIRDS and ARROWS

*STARMAKER* ON ITUNES NOW!!! //////////// ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------- STARMAKER is INDEPENDENT WEEKLY's ALBUM of the MONTH for OCT....now streaming on www.indyweek.comBirds & Arrows sing their life and love onto the new Starmakerillustration by Nathan Golub ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------- ----------------------------------Birds & Arrows' Starmaker---------------------------------- --------------------------------------(307 Knox Records)-------------------------------------Starmaker, the full-length debut from young duo Birds & Arrows, plays like a scrapbook that chronicles the love and lives of husband and wife Pete and Andrea Connolly. Both the album art and songs are deeply personal, edging on voyeuristic at times, but offering a sort of universal truth for their intimacy. On the title track, Andrea and Pete sing in unison, identifying God as the "starmaker" who pushes a pin through black paper like on a schoolchild's art project. By casting God as the craft artist, the Connollys afford themselves the power to create their own world, one of instant nostalgia and familiarity, not unlike the best of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music. Artwork of Native Americans and spaceships collides with lyrics about traveling and love. Birds & Arrows' domain is strange and beautiful, full of wide-eyed wonder.On "Honeymoon Song," they describe a broad and encompassing world, singing, "In a place so old with a life so new, it was all." Still, Andrea picks out minute details, like stopping the car every few miles because it was smoking. The specificity paints an intimate portrait, offering an inlet into the couple's private life. Andrea's strummed guitar begins the track, which grows in layers—cello, piano and pedal steel as ornaments, then Pete's simple tribal drumming on tom-toms. Add all the sounds in the world, though, and the excitement in "Honeymoon Song" stems from the palpable connection between the couple. Pete joins Andrea on harmony vocals, helping lift the line, "It was all," into "It was always you."The singing throughout Starmaker is fantastic. Andrea's voice is clear, full and stunning, seemingly designed for melancholic anthems and slow-burning love songs. With sand on his vocal chords, Pete delivers lyrics with a rootsy, quiet confidence that balances Andrea in an unexpectedly appealing way. He even tackles lead vocals on a few songs, including "Monkey Brother," a song about his estranged adopted brother who died last year.While the band is essentially a guitar-drums duo, "Ripe and Ruptured" features Latin-inspired claves and ooh-la-las. Coldplay could even cover "Company Keep." The music refuses to stand still, mirroring the album's uniting motif of drives—or, more generally, movement and progression. The theme comes to fruition on "Daisy Renee," a joyous country ode to an old car. "Send her home," the Connollys call together, echoing Tom Waits and Neil Young's old-world automobile nostalgia. The '64 Oldsmobile can be imagined heading off into the glowing sunset.Primal and passionate, expectant and hopeful, Birds & Arrows' Starmaker is a Victorian curio cabinet filled with personal moments and universal emotions..............................ALBUM REVIEW by ANDREW RICHEY of Independent Weekly------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------We also have two self released EPs which we are selling for $5. Please contact us through myspace or email ([email protected]) if you are interested in purchasing one. All songs are written, recorded and released by Birds & Arrows ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------- ***WOODGRAIN HEART***(self-released) “The packaging for Woodgrain Heart, the debut EP from Chapel Hill duo Birds & Arrows, consists of a slim cardboard sleeve that's been spray painted a deep cerulean shade, the band's name written in a comfortable, slightly sloppy script across the top in coarse black marker. A rudimentary cutout of a human heart printed onto the sort of lumber laminate you'd use to line kitchen cabinets sits at the middle. Tucked inside, the liner notes are printed onto a single sheet of tawny paper with doodles and lyrics and acknowledgments packed onto one side, pictures of price tags and the band set in a grid on the other. It's a decidedly handmade production, the sort of thing bandmates attached at the hip make while watching the sun come up, an old record spinning on a nearby stereo.Indeed, Pete and Andrea Connolly (neé Nell) wed in October, becoming the most recent addition to the Triangle's excellent collegium of married bands that includes The Rosebuds, Work Clothes and Waumiss. And their work—warm, emotional, poetic folk music played tenderly and gingerly—thrives on the relationship's intimacy, spinning songs from domestic images like the blue flickering flame of a gas burner and the trove of persistent memories that remain like love's kindling. Andrea, who sings and plays guitar in the bluegrass quartet Sweet By & By, takes the lead on three of the EP's six tracks, turning in a slow-burning performance on opener "Garden Shed" and layering her reverb-tinged vocals over banjo and handclaps on the title track. With a voice that's as workmanlike as it is worn, Pete adds a jangly lift to his tracks, like the mandolin-abetted "Old Man Winter" or the structurally convoluted "Black Shoes." But, as things should be, the Connollys sound best when they sing together, their complementary voices wrapping together in rustic contentment and comfort, like a happy pair making music because that's how love makes them feel. These six splendid songs beg for those feelings to continue”------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- 14 JAN 2009 • by Grayson Currin ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------- -------------------------Independent Weekly---www.indyweek.com ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------- -----------------------------BALTIMORE CITY PAPER----------------------------------------------- By Al Shipley | Posted 5/29/2009 "The Thursday show was opened by Porcelain Doll Club, a solo singer/songwriter who appeared a little nervous and inexperienced, but gave a pleasant, ingratiating performance. The real gem of the show was the other opener, Birds and Arrows, a husband/wife duo from North Carolina. Singer/guitarist Andrea Connolly's sweetly smoky voice and twangy tunes with Pete Connolly's complementary harmonies and bombastic drums combined to create one of the more complete, full-bodied sounds ever to come out of a two-person band. The only frustrating thing, however, was that the killer standout of Birds and Arrows' set, "Not Interested," is a newer tune not yet available on record. But, like Kadman, their previews of unreleased songs made a good case for keeping an eye out for a future release date"*BIRDS and ARROWS/BUTTERFLIES* christmas EP will be released TUE. DEC 15th at the Trekky Records Christmas at the Cradle event and will be sold as downloads with the purchase of one of our handmade Christmas Ornaments for $5.00. Or you can purchase the songs at www.butterflies.bandcamp.com________________________________ ________________________________________________************ *********Review by Brian Tucker/Bootleg Magazine***************************************Two Chapel Hill bands, Butterflies, and Birds & Arrows, related by blood and musical affiliation have put together an EP of original and traditional Christmas songs. The five song album will be released at the Christmas at the Cradle show as a download code and available as a download at bandcamp.com. The performers involved have lent a personal touch (‘Our Christmas’) to the songs as well a little humor with a backwoods version of ‘The Chipmunk Song’. ‘Christmas Morning’ is an original song by Butterflies and its tender delivery by singer Josh Kimbrough and its easy melody feels like an old Buddy Holly number. The take on ‘Christmas Time is Here’ is close to the one we all know but their high-pitched and slow jazz version still brings to mind lightly falling snow and walking at night during the holidays. But the album’s real charmer is ‘Our Christmas” by Birds and Arrows. Pete and Andrea Connolly trade thoughts on the fun and the duties of Christmas. Pete sings – “I’m not ready for Christmas this year/Has it really been a year?…I’m drinking way too much beer….This box of crap/ All the things you’ve got to wrap.” This is all sung with delicate aplomb and when Pete stops Andrea’s soulful and heavenly singing makes it hard to hear her words. It’s a sweet song, and her singing will entice to find their other albums. Songs to Trim Your Tree By is a homemade collection of ageless holiday songs. It will be sold for $5 and for a limited time come with a handmade Christmas ornament. Brian Tucker butterflies.bandcamp.com/album/ butterflies-and -birds-arrows-songs-to- trim-your-tree-by ____________________________________________________________ _______________________________________