'Creative Dance' kicks in with a bass line that The Flaming Lips must be kicking themselves for missing off the last album (it's that good) before another beautifully worked verse and chorus come in, which are both familiar and refreshing…with post-punk invention meeting modern indie edge…Remarkably accomplished, both in writing and arrangements 9/10 – leeds music scene
THIS is a big claim, and there's no slight intended to the many excellent bands playing locally now or in the past, but this EP is proof positive that The Birdman Rallies are the single best group the Harrogate 'scene' has produced since I first started writing Gig Scene a hard-to-believe16 years ago. Summing up this inventive four-piece in a single line is virtually impossible and the best I can do - "lo-fi prog-pop" - isn't nearly good enough. The first amazing thing is the range of musical styles and time signatures, the band zip through. Faint suggestions of the following famous acts pop up, often within a single, stop-start track: Beck. Vampire Weekend. Flaming Lips. Elvis Costello (early albums). XTC. Grandaddy. Donovan. Badly Drawn Boy. Syd Barrett. Nick Drake. The second amazing thing is the sheer catchiness of the hooks and the brilliant musicianship of mssrs Danny Webster (vocals/guitar/trumpet/everything) John Davey (bass/vocals), Adam Westerman (keyboards/percussion/everything) and Dave Armstrong (drums). A glorious mix of pastoral and the urban, the whimsical and the pithy, the acoustic and the electronic, it's always possible to push this type of curios in the attic eclecticism too far. Thanks to the sophistication of the arrangements and the band's energetic playfulness, the result is almost always a multi-faceted thing of wonder. I could pick out highlights; you could argue the most instantly catchy songs are Lost In The Hubbub and You and I while my favourites are The Box Called Miscellaneous and Colour in a Corner of the Night, but, in truth, there are no low points on this brilliant EP. Instead let's just celebrate the sublime greatness, the blinding genius that is The Birdman Rallies. north yorkshire news.com
buy it from here:
the birdman rallies NEW 13-TRACK ALBUM AVAILABLE NOW
"The songs themselves are beautifully arranged with layers of varied instrumentation from guitar, bass and drums to lovely trumpet flourishes, tinkling xylophones and exotic electronic noises"
-sandman, june 2008
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