Dave's Music #68 - The Stray Birds "Magic Fire"
Ok I have said my reviews would stay to mostly recent releases, but rules are made to be broken. Recently I did my numbers playlist and ran into an old song "25 to Life" by The Stray Birds and really fell in love with it (again maybe). So on Bandcamp Friday I was on a mission to buy some of their music again. I passed on buying their most recently release (2019) and picked a 2016 release. I'm a little worried that they aren't touring anymore because their Facebook page hasn't had a post since 2019; but that doesn't mean their music still isn't some of the best that I've bought recently.
I do keep new music in a huge playlist and put it on random, and so often I reached down to look and mark "love" to a song, and it was theirs.
I think Sabrina is my go to on the release, though really their art of writing and mixing vocals and different instruments makes this whole release unique and incredible. Here what a review said:
The sound is more expansive than previous recordings and much fuller, bringing a greater dynamism than that of its predecessors, although the recording never loses sight of the bands past triumphs, simply extending their sound rather than completely changing it. There are varied tempo changes and themes on these beautifully written and performed songs two of which were written solely by Oliver Craven, two by Maya de Vitri, three by the two combined, one was by Maya in conjunction with Lindsay Rilko of recent favourites, Lindsay Lou and the Flatbellys. One was by Charles Muench, one by a combination of all three, another by the trio with the assistance of Shane Leonard and one by de Vitry and Larry Campbell. It is that varied solo and combination of songwriters that helps broaden the thematic scope, atmosphere, depth of sound and the tempos of the album, perhaps more so than their previous recordings, not necessarily better or worse, just different.
The album opens with an acoustic guitar intro that is soon joined by Maya's powerful, evocative vocal, with thudding percussion and some tremendous band harmonies on Shining in the distance, a gorgeous ballad that has a lovely full sound but not one that gets in the way of the vocals and includes a lovely fiddle break. There is a sawing fiddle on Sabrina with guitar and percussion getting a Cajun inflected song off to a flyer with Maya on lead vocal and the usual excellent harmonies on another beautifully written song, this one performed at a speedy mid tempo. There is a fiddle intro on Hands of man that makes the song sound like the start of a hoedown which is then joined by percussion and bass followed by Maya's vocal along with Oliver on a composition that creates the impression of being an update of 'old timey' music. There is a beautiful steel guitar and fiddle intro on Somehow, with percussion and bass adding a solid foundation before we go into a beautiful country duet a la Gram and Emmylou. That is a comparison that is often used but in this case it is accurate on a song that has beauty and a distinct edginess, with absolutely no sanitization. Sunday morning is generically ambiguous; at times having a honky tonk feel, at others a slight jazziness, with the harmonies often sounding like 1940s and 50s 'sister groups,' with an excellent lead vocal from Oliver supported by an upbeat instrumentation that includes chirpy fiddle on a tremendously upbeat tale. Finally, Mississippi Pearl includes a lovely melodic guitar and steel guitar in support of Maya's dynamic vocal on a beautiful ballad, with some stunning harmonies on a classic modern country song that has a hugely evocative atmosphere.
I will continue to do my due diligence researching this group, and updating this blog post. Remember the theme of my blog is that #MusicHasNoExpirationDate and I just took a pretty dang tasty release off the shelf.
Here is a link to stream the release in Bandcamp.
