Customer Reviews

We Will Become Like Birds

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Overall, this is a good album. Fans of Erin McKeown will notice the sound is closer to Grand than to Distillation - more pop and less funk. If that's your thing then add another half star. I think Distillation was her best work, so I have to deduct a few points from this album's overall score.

But, there is a lot to enjoy here. Erin's voice is pleasant and inspiring - it has that distinctive timber all good storytelling voices have. As always, the lyrics are imaginative and thought-provoking.

As I said, this is a good album but, when compared to Erin's earlier work, not a great album. Still, it's always good to hear from this talented artist.

I recieved this for my birthday today, and so far i'm having a great time with it! Very upbeat album. Made a great soundtrack, as i ran around the city today. "White city" and "Bells and Bombs" have a great "strut" to them.
I've known of Erin for a long time, and distilation was a great album.... but i'm not dissapointed by this one at all. It still has a good vibe that grows with you every listen.
I could kick myself for not seeing her here in Seattle last week. Her "stylings" are even more impressive live.

Erin McKeown's remarkable "We Will Become Like Birds" is a concept album, of sorts. And the concept is flight.

Erin's vibrato-free alto is as superb as it was with the jazzier "Grand" (this one's more pop), and her intelligent lyrics would have won approval from the likes of Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart.

Highlights are the anthemic "Aspera," with its Latin motto, the poppy "To the Stars," the dramatic "White City," and the absolutely to die for "Delicate December."

A must have.

and allowed one item from the 'real world,' I would say "to heck with the satellite phone! to heck with the flares, knives, and water purifiers! give me 'we will become like birds'!" But then, I suppose I would regret not asking for a cd player or endless power supply. So forget the desert isle, just give me this cd for relaxing at home, driving to and fro, and sitting around the beach bonfire with friends. This is the one cd that I constantly carry back and forth from car to home stereo. Honestly I think the only time this cd can't be found in my stereo is when my sister has stolen it to listen to it in lieu of keith urban, or my fiance has put down his joe satriani to spend some alone time with erin. This music is for everyone, and the disc is destined to become as worn as Distillation and Grand. Buy it. Now.

I've been a fan of Erin McKeown's since I first heard "Distillation" a few years back. I loved her funky, upbeat, unique sound and the great lyrics. I picked up "Monday Morning Cold" and loved it as well. "Grand" didn't disappoint either, though I found fewer songs I just loved. And that's how I feel about "We Will Become Like Birds." There's still songs I love, but they're fewer & farther between.

Overall the album is less acoustic and more polished sounding than her previous albums. It flows well, which makes it good for background listening. The lyrics are still great, of course, and include some great comments on emotions and relationships.

But it didn't feel like the simple joyful expression of music I enjoyed in the previous albums. I felt like I didn't hear as much of Erin McKeown's unique voice -- it's too covered by the instruments for my tastes.

I'd still recommend the album for the songs I consider real jewels. "To the Stars" and "We Are More" are great songs that remind me of the sound I loved from the older albums. "Bells and Bombs" and "You Were Right About Everything" are both beautifully-written and performed songs. And the more I listen to the others, the more they grow on me.

So it's not "Distillation" or "Monday Morning Cold." But it's still Erin McKeown. And that's good enough for me...

I have watched Erin McKeown's career as it has shifted and changed, like the colors of the sea as you drift deeper and deeper out. Her music has become more complex and varied, occasionally more stormy and turbulent, and with We Will Become Like Birds, more intensely personal. I find this record to be a triumph-- each song is delightful and yet sorrowful, sweet and wistful. I love this album. It begins with Aspera, rocking with energy, and ends with the hopeful-yet-tinged-with-sadness You Were Right About Everything. It's addictive.

Erin Mckeown's references to Judy Garland are a little more understated in this album than the last (grand), yet they are still there if you listen close! It also took me a little longer to get into this one than the last but, overall, I think I like it even more. The lyrics, for the most part, seem more introspective and sanguine, and the melodies are as wonderful as ever! The last track 'You were right about everything' is my favorite.

In her fourth studio album, folk singer and songwriter Erin McKeown spreads out her wings and soars with her new release, "We Will Become Like Birds". With a new sound approach that differs from the previous more "jazz" sounding albums like her 2003 release, "Grand", Erin has opened up a whole new level of songwriting with honest lyrics that expose the young artist with a more vulnerable side. Speaking on both sides of the ups & downs of relationships, McKeown offers up an appealing look at heartbreak and a potential future that lies ahead. With drop-dead gorgeous vocals against a wide variation of instrumentation, this new maturity that Erin unleashes is nothing less than 100% pure enjoyment. Its beauty set against an open, blue sky with light feathered wings beating aimlessly against the wind as Erin pulls the listener through the skies with her lyrics. For first time listeners who caught wind of this purely talented artist, I would definitely recommend "We Will Become Like Birds". There is not much that could be said against this record; it is a CD full of fanatically scored lyrics and beautiful songs that will capture the hearts of listeners everywhere!

Ingredient 1: A failed relationship at your heels & weighing
on your mind. Ingredient 2: A roomful of instruments with
which you are skillfully competent.

What does one make?

Well, if you are 27 year old Erin McKeown, you creatively
bind together the two ingredients with handfuls of hope,
& with patience & time, We Will Become Like Birds shall
emerge. With a prior relationship crumbling around her,
McKeown has simply picked up her guitar, bass, drum-
sticks & keyboards & atypically enlisted other musicians
& produced this wonderfully hopeful album. These twelve
complementary songs are lyrically pertinent to anyone
who has survived a relationship break-up. Sentiments of
creation & loss, construction & destruction are plentiful.
In the opener, Aspera, McKeown muses on the discontent
"I'm in shambles, blown to bits by our troubles, these
brambles, our stumblings, our struggles." By Air, she is
contemplating the origins of emotional pain "love! &
you're wondering how it works, the heart & the natural
world, it's a wonder that science can hurt".

Though the songs are firmly in the camp of relationship
fodder, McKeown provides something more than the
archetypal break-up album with a continuous hopeful
twist. Buoyant ruminations on how experience forces
growth are welcomed in the positive statement of We
Are More, in which sadness is transcended in the form
of "this morning I saw a glimmer of hope, in the eyes
that I met at the door, of separate futures & confident
sutures, to the wounds we have endured." The album is
undeniably sad & yet irrepressibly hopeful.

For those who don't appreciate an emotional battering
as part & parcel of a listening experience, McKeown's
clearly auspicious lyrics & musical choices reflecting a
light emotional approach will indeed sweeten the
medicine. With upbeat, rising notes & tempting hand
claps, the overall feel isn't one of loss - the musical
scenery is as misleading as her carefree, light vocals.
In typical McKeown style, her voice drifts lightly &
spreads warmly through the album, winding over even
the highest notes with softness.

With her personal evolution in full view, McKeown's
musical growth cannot be overlooked. She is ever-
changing & her tendency to frolic willfully through varied
musical landscapes is only slightly diminished here. As
ever though, McKeown's musicianship is nothing short of
admirable & will make even the most gifted a little green-
eyed. Competent enough to play all instruments herself,
McKeown could have easily created the album nestled
alone in a studio, but with an ethnomusicology degree &
three acclaimed genre-hopping solo albums already in the
bag, Erin arrived at this album with a strong pedigree &
looking for something new. She & co-producer Tucker
Martine have called on highly accomplished musicians to
freely improvise on her compositions as they best know
how. With Matt Chamberlain on drums (Tori Amos, Fiona
Apple), Sebastian Steinberg on bass (Beth Orton) &
Steve Moore on keyboards (Laura Veirs), the album
wears an impulsive band feel. Collaborations with singer-
songwriters Pete Mulvey & Juana Molina on Delicate
December & The Golden Dream, respectively, also add
a different dimension.

The rich, multi-instrumental path set out by her
previous album Grand (2003) is trodden even further
here, breaking away from that record's jazzy, 1950s-
style swing. Slick production & a stark reduction in guitar
focus have augmented this effect. McKeown is no longer
the folkie that appeared on the independent scene in
1999 with Monday Morning Cold. Regardless, with
perhaps her most commercially accessible album to
date, Erin McKeown is stepping back into the alternative
spotlight while laudably retaining her enthusiam for
experimentation, her charming vocal style & a distinctive
& familiar originality.

This is easily Erin McKeown's tightest and most coherent album. It flows consistently throughout and every song is good. Unfortunately it lacks the sparks of brilliance that lit up her two previous records--though to it's credit, it also lacks the clear misses that you find on those albums. Her lyrical confidence is as high as ever, and the musicianship on display is excellent. If only there were one shining moment on the album, it would easily outpace her earlier work, but its consistency is in part its greatest drawback. There's no arguing that McKeown's work is a cut above most of the music you'll find on store sheles these days, so you won't regret adding this disc to your collection.