4 out of 5
The Bowerbirds’ first record, 2007’sHymns For a Dark Horse, was the perfect modern take on back-porch Americana with its nature-focused guitar stomping consciousness. Phil Moore and Beth Tacular were living together in an Airstream in the middle of North Carolina’s forest concocting simple guitar and accordion backdrops for Moore’s blatantly environmentalist musings. Some might call it post-hippy folk; I called it my favorite record of 2007.
Now after a year and a half of relentless touring the Bowerbirds return with Upper Air, a collection of similarly sensitive, gentle tunes looking more at love and personal emotions while keeping the natural world in heavy reference. Moore’s allusions to the trees, clouds and sky are wrapped more solidly around a personal voice connecting a natural world to human love and relationships. On “Beneath Your Tree” Moore sings “And the moon will rise / in the evening I’ll fall asleep / beneath your tree / and the wind will howl through your leaves and serenade me / you don’t own me / but I’ll take your lead.”
Upper Air incorporates more instrumental build within each song, often utilizing piano, violin, drum kit and layered vocals over the acoustic guitar backbone. Moore and Tacular’s voices complement each other wonderfully although Moore’s is definitely the more confident of the two.
The first single, “Northern Lights” incorporates an intentionally lazily drum groove, piano and Moore’s precisely sparse guitar strums. Most of Upper Air oscillates between the simplicity of tracks driven by guitar and vocal strength (“Chimes”, “House of Diamonds”) and darker more complex sounds of accordion and string arrangements like the moody “Teeth.”
Upper Air’s greatest moment is “Silver Clouds,” a stripped tune focusing on Moore’s lyrics which open with “Put my dreams in my hands so I’ll know I’m sure / give me all that I want from this giant world.” Moore’s voice quivers at the necessary moments before opening up to the album’s most soaring instrumental crest.
It is quite a task to follow up an album so stunningly refreshing as Hymns, but the Bowerbirds’ have managed to provide another great record that will stand up in the forefront of this years acoustic releases.
by Blair Amberly
