Californian band The Bye Bye Blackbirds are branching out musically on August Lightning Complex, their latest album. Power pop new sits comfortably next to art rock (Something From The Old World), country rock and the sound of Laurel Canyon '70s singer-songwriters. Band leader and main songsmith Bradley Skaught leads the band on a road trip that visits all the places that made West Coast music such a force: ace melodies, folk-tinged storytelling, and adventurous chord progressions that sound deceptively simple.
Highlights are the short and sweet instrumental title track - a calling card for the new found musical freedom, the gently swaying We Got Lost, that comes with seamless reprise, and the meandering Marching, a soft-spoken rallying cry for going your own way, a captivating composition with muffled brass that goes on for a little over 9 minutes, but has plenty of room for stretching it out for much longer than that when played live.
August Lightning Complex is a self-released album (vinyl, CD, digital). Buy it from their website.
Tracks:- Want Show As Young
- Mechanics
- Out On The Waves
- Something From The Old World
- August Lightning Complex
- We Got Lost
- We Got Lost (Reprise)
- Favorite Stars
- Marching
- Don't Wait
» The Bye Bye Blackbirds on Facebook
HCTF review of Boxer At Rest.