Written
by Frank McClure, posted by blog admin
One
might tempted to call Minneapolis’ Black Bluebirds a hard rock outfit, but
that’s missing much of what they do. Their ten song effort Like Blood for Music
definitely kicks off with some straight up hard rock muscle on the song “Love
Kills Slowly” and Simon Husbands’ lead
guitar proves to be an excellent partner for Daniel Fiskum’s slightly droning
voice and insightful lyrics. Black Bluebirds position themselves as a
distinctly adult outfit nevertheless trafficking in musical content any
listener will find appealing. Second vocalist Jessica Rasche has a lot to offer
throughout the entirety of this album, but the opener arguably provides her
finest moment on the album. “Strange Attractor” mixes things up a little
without ever veering too far The lean
muscularity of the verses is a notable difference from the more chaotic
approach heard with the first song and Rasche makes some potentially underrated
vocal contributions.
“Life
in White” strikes a different note than the aforementioned tracks. The acoustic
strands coming from this track contrast well with the darker, hard rock
leanings in the earlier songs. It’s great, however, how the three piece can
utilize different textures without ever sacrificing any of their musical
intensity. Fuskum’s vocal is very effective here. “Battlehammer” amps the pace
compared to earlier tunes and serves as the first genuine duet between Fiskum
and Rasche on the album. Husbands’ guitar work propels the song along quite
nicely, but Chad Helmonds’ drumming maintains a steady, hard-hitting pulse
throughout. The band promotes themselves as providing a distinctly cinematic experience
for listeners and they bear this out with the track “House of No More Dreams”
and the near-stately pace they adopt is uniquely counterpointed by buzzsaw
slashes of Husbands’ guitar playing.
The
different vocal quality of “Hole in the Day” definitely sets it apart from the
earlier tunes, but it once again manifests the same spirit and mood we’ve heard
from the other songs. It’s definitely the album’s most arguably “sensitive”
moment, but never betrays the thematic intent defining Like Blood for Music as
a whole. The urgent mid-tempo press from “Soul of Wood” certainly invokes a
hint of the poetic in its title and lyricist Fiskum follows this up with some
of the album’s best writing. His return to lead vocal duties is equally
memorable.
The
guitar assumes no really prominent role on “Don’t Fall in Love” until the song’s
second half when Husbands makes some important contributions; the remainder of
the song is focused much more on tasteful theatrics and a nice mood invoking
vocal from Fiskum. The song “My Eyes Were Closed” may be mentioned bv many as
ranking among the album’s most cinematic moments and those are never achieved
at the expense of the band’s artistic credibility; instead, they are completely
integrated into a strong dramatic structure that’s sure to holds listener’s
attention from the first. The finale “Legendary” opts for much of the same
approach without ever aping it and succeeds wildly in giving Like Blood for
Music the definitive curtain it deserves. Black Bluebirds’ are a stunning
success at giving listeners a diverse release that should check off all the
boxes for modern music lovers.
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