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Just when I thought that psychedelia was this year’s thing, along comes something definitely different. This week, I am ‘Spillin’ The Beans about the debut EP by Edinburgh four-piece Bluebirds.
There is a totally diferent vibe here, a hard-edged sound, full of angsty post-punk stylings and darkness.
There are five tracks on the EP, which is entitled “There Is No God“. The band’s press release says that “Bluebirds explore themes of longing and frustrations with the world, bringing dark twisted scenarios to every day situations.” Ah, good old existential self-examination. Where would we be without it?
The tracks are;
- New Town Sheep
- Dog
- I Feel In Love With A Call Girl
- Subcultural Love
- Show Me Yours And I’ll Show You Mine
The band consists of ;
Daniel Telford (vocals/guitar),
Jack Telford (bass/vocals)
Josef Benassi (organ/synth)
Harris Le Derf (drums)
So, what can I say. Well, first a disclaimer. Much as I like Joy Division, Magazine and other angst-ridden post-punk bands, I don’t really spend a great deal of time listening to that sort of music these days. However, what you get with Bluebirds is music that shows a lot of thought and good ideas. The band clearly know what they want to project and they do it well, with a strong and uncompromising set of songs. There is Nick Cave here, also Ian Curtis, Iggy Pop and Berlin Bowie and, to my ears at least, the spirit of Howard Devoto somewhere in the mix. There is menace in this music, darkness and despair. This all comes together brilliantly on the longest track, “I Fell In Love With A Call Girl”, a bleak, starkly-produced epic, full of angular guitars, swooping synth lines that sound like police sirens and a metronome-like drum beat that wouldn’t sound out of place on Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures“. In fact, I hear a lot of Martin Hannett’s sound in the production, and that is meant as a compliment.
This is difficult music; difficult, I suspect because it is honest music. As the EP plays out to the end, I get the Joy Division influence more and more strongly, perhaps some PiL too and, certainly in some of the vocal delivery, The Fall. If you like any of those bands, give this a listen. You might find yourself liking it a lot. It certainly impressed me with its passion and anger.
The band can be found on the usual outlets; facebook – twitter – instagram and you can stream their music on Soundcloud.
