birdpen - 3 track demo
2 blokes - mike (bird) and dave (pen) make up the entity that is birdpen from southampton.
as well as sorting out these rather fine 3 tracks they are also involved in remixing names such as redjetson, black nielson, along with working with the superb archive. the music is basically beautifully made indie stylised pop where guitars chime and strum, subtle electronics add sonic depth and vocals are the added layer of melancholy.
'fake kid' is a synth-etically propelled groove that builds the momentum to a wonderfully enthralling radio friendly epic, 'a round of applause for a greater disaster' has touches of the classic pop that athlete excel at, but with a much darker overtone in the mood of the song, and, to finalise the ep, there are flashbacks to the godfathers of the scene, coldplay, in the grand finale 'huron' with its gradual build up, and hammered out piano chord motif and clean guitar lines - but repeated listening to the track has not brought on any feelings of nausea, in fact i have become rather attached to the lonely sunday afternoon vibe of it, and daves voice is really rather special throughout this.
however, that isn't quite everything as the cd is equipped with the video for '10,000 dead stars' during which it becomes very clear that these lads aint going to be quite the same nice-n-easy popstars as the music may indicate, with the video being quite a harrowing few minutes containing a dark parody on the whole reality/pop idol talent contests that dominate modern music choices.