Brown Bird / Salt For Salt

Supply And Demand Music

Recorded live to tape in Pawtucket, RI, Salt For Salt is the first album by BROWN BIRD to capture the intense energy of the duo's live show, surging in waves that often swell into high-spirited, foot-stomping madness. DAVID LAMB's lyrics are as well-written as they are emotionally intelligent, thankfully avoiding the pitfalls of the wish-wash known as "modern-folk" or "singer-songwriting". Lamb and his partner MORGANEVE SWAIN write simply, and the record is eerily sparse at times—a tambourine, a bass drum and the cello often the sole accompaniement to Lamb's cracked, wood-smoke voice. Brown Bird are also not afraid to write experimentally— "Ebb and Flow" and "Shiloh" (the latter a longer, entirely instrumental track) each boast melodies worthy of a dervish, the melodic structure reminiscent more of Turkish or Greek rebetika than old-time or bluegrass. Lamb's continual reference to ships clearly come from his years spent working at the shipyard in Warren, RI, just as their arrangements well only from a deep knowledge of the American folk tradition. A cantankerous and drafty two-man ship stationed in Providence, RI, Brown Bird plays original, traditional American music in the best sense possible. It is music that comes from a context but is not afraid of the context: a living root with a view towards the leaves. (STREET DATE - 10/18/2011)

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