Music Seen, at the Soundpost, March 12
By IAN PAIGE | March 21, 2007
The cozy and contemplative folk of Brown Bird couldn’t be more at home at Portland’s newest venue, the Soundpost. The enterprising entertainment duo of Kate Cox and Matt Rock inherited the former Stillhouse Studio on High Street above Katahdin Restaurant and are carrying the torch to illuminate the exposed wood ceilings and pews for an audience close enough to converse with the performers.
Brown Bird take the comfort of four-chord Appalachia and draw out intelligent twists and turns of vocal harmonies and inventive instrumental arrangements. Boston’s David Lamb brings a solo songwriting aesthetic that collides with the emotional atmospheres of Portland’s Jeremy and Jerusha Robinson. Their rich tones of voice, cello, banjo, and accordion make it so the collision results in an embrace.
The tension is familial and loving, the kind that engages you in a wholly different way from sonically similar acts like the easygoing Iron and Wine. Lamb’s simple, strong guitar and bedroom brooding voice are emotionally charged with swells of sound. The band performed a new one called “Gold,” which begins with the Robinsons chanting a line about a Midas touch while Lamb sets the scene for a tragedy of lost love. The song takes tormented turns and percussive breaks and then rushes back into a saturated sound before ending in a toy piano whimper. How many times can you get the chills in one song?
Brown Bird’s last record, Tautology, is out now. The new sounds and songs suggest you should look out for their upcoming offering, Such Unrest. You can pick up a copy in person when they get back from their East Coast tour in April.
On the Web
Brown Bird: brownbird.net | myspace.com/thesoundpost
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