Nothing gives me more pleasure in my working day spent writing about music than finding myself faced with a band doing something different from the mainstream, comfort-zoned, conformist pack. Not that Two Dark Birds are quite ripping up the rulebook; after all, they are using the sonic structures and building blocks that are readily available to everyone else. But what they are doing is putting those musical elements together in new ways, and to very satisfying ends.
“Pink Light” may start in a minimalist and electronic place, but it soon picks up pace courtesy of strummed acoustic guitars and increasingly busy beats. Then it soaks itself in even more heady sonics, arabesque motifs and shimmering percussion, drifting steel guitars and additional hazy harmonies, plus all manner of additional sonic weight.
But our shaded feathered friends know a thing or two about dynamics too, and with just a minute to go, they pause, regroup, and do it all again, only faster, punchier, before reaching their logical destination.
It’s an intriguing song, smooth and seductive, slow-burning and wonderfully original. And, considering their Catskill Mountain home also produced one of my favorite bands of recent times, Mercury Rev, I’m beginning to think that’s part of the world I need to visit, if only to find out what they’re putting in the water that elicits such great music.
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