Bird Traps

Marcus Skinner fronts Bird Traps on the low-end twang of baritone guitar and backed by double bass and cello. While also utilizing loops, nature recordings, feedback, organ, bells, rocks and found objects, Bird Traps weave bold minimal motifs and haunting drones into diffuse instrumental soundscapes.
Performing both under the aliases Bird Traps and Winterville, Marcus Skinner has collaborated with such musicians [among others] as Jim Walter, Declan Jones, Tom Butt, Alistair Watts, Michelle Mansford, Arron Bool and Bruce McIntyre, performing solo to ensemble's. With shows throughout Australia and Europe, Bird Traps have been performing as a duo throughout 2008 and 2009 with Jim Walter on laptop.
Early 2008, DREAMLAND RECORDINGS released a compilation of Australian experimental guitarists, including Bird Traps, Seaworthy, Chris Smith, Ian Wadley, Seth Rees, Tim Catlin and others. check out www.dreamlandrecordings.com or www.myspace.com/dreamlandrecordings
The Melbourne AND COLLECTIVE have released their new book/cd in September 2008, A PLACE TELLS A STORY "reconnects with locality and specificity. It explores these sites' histories and narratives..". Including writings from [among others] Warwick Baker, Tom Civil, Oslo Davis and tracks from Bird Traps, Chris Smith, Saddleback, Less Memorial, Perfect Black Swan, Jon Tjhia and others.
www.andcollective.com
DON'T BE SO RECKLESS CD, part one of SELECTED WORKS FOR STRINGS series. Heavy textures and slow moving strings, guitar, noise, field recordings and a broken record player. Check out a sample of Floorboards and Ballad for L- in the audio player.
Buy a copy of DON'T BE SO RECKLESS
www.aquariusrecords.org
www.missinglink.net.au
sunshinengrease.blogspot.com
"A copy of this just showed up in the mail one day, all the way from Australia, a long time ago, but then somehow disappeared, lost we can only assume, amidst all of the stuff that is continually piling up here at aQ. Eventually, after some back and forth with the band we managed to secure another copy, and WOW are we glad we did. We were expecting something heavy and dark, not sure if it's the name that maybe had us confusing them with the Bird Blobs (bad ass Aussie garage punks) or the fact that they were pals with the Grey Daturas, either way, this is anything but dark and heavy, instead, Bird Traps traffic in something much more ethereal and ephemeral, slow shimmering soundscapes, cinematic and warm, lush and emotional, long slowly unfurling melancholic melodies, sun dappled and soft focus, dreamlike abstract chamber music of sorts reminding us of William Basinski, the Caretaker, Rachel's, Klimek, Max Richter, Tim Hecker, Belong, but unlike many of those sound sculptors, the music of Bird Traps is not distorted, or decayed, not warped or blown out, but IS hushed and delicate, mysterious and gauzy, a softly spun series of mini epics, long tones stretched out over hazy expanses of minimal whir, of blurred minimal melody, the songs developing gradually, soft swells giving way to gentle washes of crystalline sound, completely mesmerizing, able to envelop the listener in a velvet cocoon of sonic tranquility, but infused with just enough pathos and emotion, to make the sounds compelling, evocative, intimate and intense. A soundtrack to a slowly shifting, nearly static sepia toned film of the sky melting into the horizon, the stars fading into the cloak of night, this world slipping into the next... "
AQUARIUS RECORDS, DONT BE SO RECKLESS Review
“...The basic thrust of their sound is a solo electric guitar, pursued ruminatively across a sparse landscape of bowed strings. Very defuse, but very compelling as well.”
THE WIRE
“...grounding in spacious dynamics and rich, organic guitar sounds. His purely instrumental compositions are anything but obvious, and linger with hints and clues of emotion and disposition. Richly textural baritone guitar resonates through minimal dynamics, evoking a sense of protracted tension and release.”
CYCLIC DEFROST
“Luckily there are people like Marcus Skinner making music. After various musical adventures he's now settled down, making sounds that are comparable to the brilliance of Mick Turner or Papa M/Dave Pajo, but only comparable. His beautiful musical vignettes are more his own than anything you’d want to compare it to. Just like his musical taste - which is f'king brilliant.”
2SERFM
“Warm textural dynamics fuse with an oblique spaciousness, while gentle ellipses and motifs of baritone guitar swell, before gradually petering out into darkness. The arrangements are given room to breathe and time to grow. But while subtle and sprawling, these excursions possess a certain conciseness; not a note nor accent is wasted.”
SPINACH 7