GriefBirds - Paper Radio
(Planetary)
The GriefBirds is the songwriting tag-team of Coby Batty, contributor to Bongwater, and Paul Watson, part of the Sparklehorse touring band. The GriefBirds' music is sophisticated pop that isn't really that sophisticated, ranging from somber 70s AM Gold romanticism to They Might Be Giants-esque rompus room bomp. Watson and Batty are joined by every willing musician in the city of Richmond, Virginia, adding horns, clarient, double bass, and even a theremin.
The GriefBirds have their flaws but manage a few decent songs. Actually, the most positive part of the band's debut album, Paper Radio, is that it makes me appreciate more the better pop albums that came out this year, from Stephen Malkmus to Edith Frost to the Lofty Pillars to Beulah. Compared to those albums, this one is simple and drab.
The album starts with the title track, an all around bad song. Lyrically, it breaks every (unwritten) rule in the book. Batty over-rhymes, letting the rhymes dictate the meaning of the song instead of the other way around. He picks an unnatural word out of the air, like "reverie," but then rhymes it with a completely ordinary word, like "see." The song is pseudo-upbeat, a pure 60s rehash that doesn't go anywhere. What is a "smart" pop band if they can't write a decent lyric or an original song? And this is the song they lead off with and name their album after!
Batty does little to redeem himself. "Move Close" is based on the metaphor of "earthquake eyes." Oh my god it's like poetry! Yes, it's a lot like poetry, but by no means actual poetry with its "hobo spies" and girls "flippin' up in NYC." The song digs from the fumingest pile of folk pop refuse and re-serves it with an out-of-place horn solo to make things even more awkward. "There is a Wolf" is somewhat better, melding in the cornet part a bit better, basing the song on a country stutter-step, but it still doesn't qualify as good (despite its wolf-based imagery).
Watson's songs show a bit better craftsmanship. The chorus and bridge to "Yours" are enjoyable, with its soothing, mellow vocals countered by a downward guitar progression. However, this better craftsmanship sometimes is taken too far and becomes over the top schlock. "Handle With Care" is a corny song that sounds like a slowed down They Might Be Giants song without the wit or sense of humor.
For a band that is billed as "avant pop," the Grief Birds need to be a lot more avant. Several songs are well-crafted and many hooks are decently executed, but, in the end, the GriefBirds lack any special flair, umph, or new ideas to make them worth coming back to.
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