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Written
by Pamela Bellmore, posted by blog admin
The
second EP release from Josh Birdsong Where the Light Bends is a six song EP
continuing the work of his first EP release Simple Geometry began in
positioning Birdsong as one of the music world’s most promising talents. Where
the Light Bends’ six tracks are anchored by a defined point of view frequently
verging on the poetic and demonstrating the same stellar production values
courtesy of Stephen Leiweke that embodied the latter’s work on Birdsong’s
debut. Birdsong doesn’t just have an unique flair with music and lyrics alike;
there’s a genuine likability and charisma coming across through these songs
that helps make them an even more pleasing listening experience than they would
be otherwise. Birdsong is set to be one of the great talents coming out of the
new national capital for popular music, Nashville, and shows the city
traditionally known as Music City U.S.A. has successfully and impressively
diversified its output rather than being exclusively regarded as the home of
country music.
There’s
nothing country about the opening track “Complex Context”. Birdsong’s musical
talents are beyond question, but the title of this particular track and its
lyrics serve notice to newcomers his writing talents are equally substantial
and underlined by an idiosyncratic intelligence shared by none of his immediate
contemporaries. The forceful pace and energetic guitar work for this song are
especially memorable and it’s a credit to the quality of his playing that
Birdsong can engage listeners with such ease despite the echo and looping
effects which seem like they might distance listeners from the material. That’s
never the case here. One of the indisputable high water marks for Where the
Light Bends comes with the track “The Sound Beneath the Static” and this
elegant lyrical and musical turn is embellished further and to great effect by
Birdsong’s thoughtful vocal and his ability to raise the intensity when needed.
“Cloud 8” is a much less overtly defined arrangement, but it’s no impediment
for Birdsong to lay down another exquisitely sensitive vocal and further demonstrate
his talents for utilizing melody within relatively unusual sonic terrain.
“Too
Much To Hold” seems like, based on running time alone, to be the EP’s key
number and the performance backs up that assumption thanks to song’s patient
evolution and Birdsong’s focus on striking just the right emotional note
through a process of accumulation rather than just laying out the song in a A-Z
manner lacking any element of surprise. “Arctic Desert” finds his guitar
returning to a higher profile role than we heard in the aforementioned song and
there’s a peculiar kind of intensity summoned here we don’t readily hear
elsewhere on the EP. The climatic number of the EP, its title song, isn’t as
long as the aforementioned “Too Much to Hold”, but comes off instead as a more
focused, less meandering effort than the earlier track and wraps up both the
release’s sonic and lyrical themes alike with a deft hand. Where the Light
Bends is a deeply satisfying release from a singer, songwriter, and musician
who has made a quantum leap since his debut.
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