Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Bowerbirds - Olive Hearts



A track that I was mildly obsessed with last year was Bowerbirds' "In Our Talons," which led me to check out their great set at SXSW '08. This week I finally picked up the band's full length debut, Hymns for a Dark Horse, and now wish I had done so months ago.

Lead single "In Our Talons" is immediately catchy, due in part to a main refrain sung as a group effort, and an accordian hook (just go with it). The song on the album that took me off guard in terms of how much I liked it, though, was "Olive Hearts," which starts out a bit slower but builds as the song develops. As I was listening to the album through (particularly "Olive Hearts"), I realized that I really enjoyed how the vocals and instrumentation interact in Bowerbirds. The two entities are almost like an owner walking their dog, with the dog happily walking off the trail here and there, but never straying too far. It's a style that could go dramatically wrong (see: Dirty Projectors), but works perfectly for Bowerbirds. Streaming and video links below.

Stream: Bowerbirds - Olive Hearts
Video: Bowerbirds - In Our Talons

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