Happy Thursday!

I’ve decided to use my first post on a band that I love to listen to when I want to relax and forget about everything. This band is called Mimicking Birds and if you’ve heard of them then you’ve already experienced this extraordinary feeling of bliss.  Lead singer/guitarist  Nate Lacy combines acoustic rifts, reverberating electronic keyboard effects, and layered vocals to make their soothing sound. The band is part of Modest Mouse singer’s record label Glacial Pace Recordings which also features Mason Jennings and Morning Teleportation, pretty much any band whose name starts with an ‘M’.

Their self-titled first album came out back in 2009 and since then they’ve been writing and releasing new tracks which, as a collection, have been named online as Not an Album, Just Songs. The first album was recorded in Isaac Brock’s very own recording studio which is conveniently located in his attic. Yet I still wait 5+ years for Modest Mouse’s new album…anyways I’ll include a link to the tour of Isaac Brock’s home so you can check out his sliding library-style ladder. Listening to the second  track “The Loop” is a great introduction to Nate Lacy’s calm, cyclic guitar rifts and smooth voice. If you crank your speakers and listen in at 0:36 you can hear Isaac Brock yelling in the background, he does this randomly throughout the album.

Onwards to “Burning Stars” which is the first song I heard by Mimicking Birds and is definitely a must hear. It starts with a very melodic acoustic guitar rift which fades out and builds into a catchy chorus with an amusing filler rift afterwards, only to loop back to the intro rift to complete this tune. It’s nice to say that this isn’t a reoccurring structure as each song wavers in and out of their segments very freely which allows Nate to choose the direction he wishes to take his music. I think this song-writing would lead to a versatile live performance, we just have to wait until they make it to the East coast on tour.

There are a few tracks on the album with a dark/creepy sound such as “Them”. I really like the positioning of these songs on the album, since they are usually followed by a very uplifting tune, in this case I’m speaking about “Cabin Fever” (at 6 min in the Isaac Brock tour vid), also a must listen. I could go on to explain why each song is worth listening to, but it would be easier to tell you to listen to their album, then to look up “For the Birds” from their collection of songs.

Thanks for reading, I’d be happy with just a few views/comments!

– Karly D

Here’s another favourite I didn’t mention: