3.0 out of 5 stars
Reminiscent of very early REM, September 21, 2005
This review is from: No Sun, No Shadow (Audio CD)
The core of this Northern California trio, I believe, worked with Barbara Manning in her early career, and these tracks, recorded about a decade apart 1987-97, certainly sound like REM. But a take on the Georgia quartet that burrows into their pre-IRS recording days, when--if you've heard bootlegs--they mixed a looser, frat-boy band attitude into their murkier, Southern Gothic textures. Sunbirds apply this stage of REM to their tracks. Curiously, the later '97 songs hearken to a sparer approach almost too-imitative in the Stipe-like vocals, of REM circa Chronic Town/Murmur. It's not bad for fans of this period (my favorite) of REM, but while the re-creation is satisfying, it's a bit too formulaic to stand on its own as an original.
The remaining tracks, from ten years or so back, very subtly remind me of touches of Gun Club, Panther Burns, or the jangle-pop from the mid-80s Athens, GA scene. The REM tendencies still overshadow all else, but it's the REM that doesn't really exist on their official early recordings. I make such comparisons because I doubt if Sunbirds could have emerged with this record on their own in isolation. Like bands that revive beloved forebears, Sunbirds bring back the early 80s, not in a cravenly nostalgic, but more of a studied, earnest manner.
It works well as a disc despite the differences in recording--the earlier songs have noticeable tape hiss--and it'd be fun to see if this trio gets together again to further delve into their influences, and to continue to possibly come up with their own more innovative blend from such fine sonic ingredients.
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