A
match made in heaven?
Birds,
Beasts & Flowers sure sounds like
it.
Rarely,
is it possible for extremely talented
musicians to make music that sounds
as natural as it is flawless. On this
6 song EP both Hem (a Brooklyn-based
8! piece based around the songwriting
skills of Dan Messe and vocalist Sally
Ellyson) and Autumn Defense (essentially
multi-instrumentalists Pat Sansone
and John Stirratt of Wilco) pull it
off seamlessly.
Both
bands sprinkle their craft with a
array of instrumnts (strings, acoustic
guitars, pedal steel, mandolin, soft-yet-confident-vocals,
organ etc) that blossoms into a gorgeous,
lush-yet-delicate sound. Birds, Beasts
& Flowers is the perfect soundtrack
for remembering the summer while ushering
in the fall.
R.I.Y.L.:
Cowboy Junkies, Neil Young, Love,
the gentler side of Americana
Track
Listing:
1. Hem Half Acre
(recorded at Radio
Denmark)
2. Autumn Defense Bluebirds
Fall (previously
unreleased)
3. Hem Pacific Street
(recorded at Radio
Denmark)
4. Autumn Defense You
Know Where I Live (previously unreleased)
5. Hem St. Charlene
(previously unreleased)
6. Autumn Defense Mayday
(previously unreleased
in the States)
Gentle
tunes dipped in honey-sweet harmonies.
Delicate strumming.. Is that a Hammond?
Neil Young and Cat Stevens. A stack
of LP’s on top of which lie well-worn
copies of Notorious Byrd Brothers,
Forever Changes and Harvest. Fitting
company for the unlikeliest of sunshine
supermen – The Autumn Defense.
Buoyed by multi-instrumentalists John
Stirratt and Pat Sansone, The Autumn
Defense is a blatant contradiction
in climes. Based in Chicago and New
York respectively, their landlocked
cold-weather homes would seem to obscure
the breezy, blue skies that color
their sound. IN fact, from the initial
tracks laid down in a friend’s home
studio in Nashville to final mixing
in Chicago, a harsh chill almost seemed
to stalk their Circles sessions.
“It
seemed that there was snow on the
ground for the entire span of the
recording,” says Stirratt of the band’s
second album. “Even in Nashville,
we rode out some of the colder weather
that they’ve seen in some time. It
was like one long winter”. And then,
of course, there’s the band’s mythical
lineage. You might expect Stirratt,
bassist for alt-heroes Wilco and country-punk
forefathers Uncle Tupelo, to mine
further the well-tilled twang-rock
soil. But Circles is closer in spirit
to the pastoral vibe of Laurel Canyon,
a groove Wilco flirted with on Summerteeth
then left behind on the genre-defying
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
“It’s been nice to stress the organic
nature of the collaboration,” Stirratt
says. “These tunes aren’t really meant
for deconstruction. It has a purposely
casual tone due to where we live and
our schedules. It’s not something
that we could spend day in and day
out on together. But being busy was
always the way our favorite bands
worked.” The yeoman route has panned
out for The Autumn Defense as well.
Between Sansone’s spate of musician
and production work with the likes
of Josh Rouse, Joseph Arthur and Jenifer
Jackson, and Stirratt’s nonstop touring
and recording with Wilco, Circles
morphed from just another album and
into a cozy shelter from the storm
for both artists.
“The
record has a nice insulated, at-home
feel when I hear it,” Stirratt says.
“You know, lots of gumbo, etoufee,
margaritas and “Mr. Show.” Winter
projects can feel like that. Total
immersion in the music and the feeling
that you’re creating your own little
universe.” It’s a lush universe --
one shared by Gene Clark’s gypsy angel
and Van Morrison’s Belfast cowboy.
A place where two guys shivering in
the heartland can channel the sea,
sand and sun and create one endless,
shimmering summer. |
Artists
