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I get quite a bit of music in the mail for review and for the most part what I receive is quite enjoyable. I’m easy to please and I don’t feel that everything has to be new and different to be called quality. However, I recently received a copy of Birds & Batteries 2005 release Nature Vs. Nature and have to say its one of the unique and best things I’ve heard in quite some time.
Birds & Batteries somehow found a way to bring the world of twangy country steel guitar and synth pop together with a fantastic result. They bounce between the two aforementioned styles hitting others along the way but the album flows along quite cohesively. Front man Mike Sempert sounds a bit like Richard Swift as he croons the album opener Summersalts over a thumb piano that transforms in to tasty vintage Casio like keyboards. Summersalts is followed by a fairly faithful rendition of Neil Young’s Albuquerque with some nice reverb drenched guitars. The album has a pretty mellow midsection as evident in Goodbye, Lullabye. That track opens with a female voice that makes an appearance on several tracks over some more steel guitar and some big, distorted drums that creates a nice feel. Things pick back up later with some fun, almost dancey numbers that differ from the openers but are still of a high quality. Sax, clarinet and drum machines are all used on the album that add to its eclectic appeal.
This album is a lo-fi gem that deserves more recognition that it found upon its initial release. Any label reading this should immediately look up Birds & Batteries and pick Nature Vs. Nature up for a proper release.
