Bird Show – “Lightning Ghosts ” – [Kranky]

Thurston Hunger   5/3/2006   A Library, CD

Ear gargling of sounds, as poured and blended by Ben Vida
acting king wingding under the nom du plume of Bird Show.
Sounds move in pretty thick waves, vocals are murmured and
ping-ponged when they appear, giving them a New Zealand
conspiracy pop feel. “Beautiful Spring” preserves those
so-close-they’re-distant vocals but sharpens them over
feedback and a toy xylophone typewriting, a guitar bumble
buzzes in too and then there’s a rubbery gnawa gnawing at
the xylophone’s footprints, by the time a synthesizer
impersonates bagpipes, I’m hooked. This is bedroom-fi that
spends a lot of time under the sheets of sounds. With
headphones strapped on this spends a lot of time flowing
left-right-left-right so it may trip some equilibriums
but I could see Alastair Galbraith and Genesis P. Orridge
fans getting lost in the hazy mazes here. Prett amazing
that Vida also punches his card in Pillow! Check their
recent “Plays Brotzmann” release. He’s also in Town and
Country. Chicago’s got some deep dishes. -Thurston Hunger