By Jason Walker
Having recently supported the enigmatic Sleep Token on two incredibly fast selling dates in Manchester and London, Exploring Birdsong are set to release their debut EP, ‘The Thing With Feathers’. I actually got to catch these supporting Sleep Token on their Manchester date and checked out what little I could find on YouTube – at this point it was just ‘The River’ and their interesting cover version of Blue Öyster Cult’s ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’. During this show they mentioned that an EP was coming soon, and I couldn’t wait to get my ears around it, and I had luck when I was given a promo copy to listen through and review!
The EP comprises of six tracks, four of which are full songs and the other two appear to be intros so it would seem that this was designed for an EP vinyl press.
The first thing that I find very striking about this EP is the outstanding production quality of it. Everything is incredibly well balanced, you can hear Jonny’s bass guitar properly even up against the strength of Lynsey’s piano and Matt’s busy drums. Lynsey’s voice shines through over the top with her incredible vibrato and soaring vocal melodies, which is a treat to hear live I can assure you.
Each of the songs on this EP are incredibly strong offerings that make a solid statement of intent on where they’re going with their music. Right out the gate ‘The River’ starts with piano melodies that invoke feelings of desperation and panic before cutting back to a verse with Lyndsey taking the main focus then leading into the epic chorus.
‘The Sinking Question’ is more melancholy supported with a nice thick and fuzzy Bass line and groovy Drums. Despite feeling like more of a sad number, this is probably one of the ones that’ll get people dancing and singing along in future shows – I hope it’ll be a mainstay of their future sets.
‘The Baptism’ is definitely a much more aggressive song in it’s tone, accompanied by another fantastic uplifting chorus and rhythmic breaks. This track really shows off the tightness of Jonny and Matt as a rhythm section, they work extremely well together which is a delight.
The EP finishes with ‘The Downpour’. This starts with a music box intro leading into ballad style piano and sweet high-pitched vocals, and reminds me a bit of some of Fleetwood Mac’s music. Bringing in some strings, the song eventually closes with a vocal solo which displays a fantastic range.
This EP really sets the bar for future work from Exploring Birdsong, they’re an incredibly unique sounding band and I personally can’t wait to see them live again and hear more music from them in future.
- ‘The Thing With Feathers’ is released next Friday. You can get your copy HERE.
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