Produced by Stephen Leiweke at Yackland
Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, Josh Birdsong’s debut EP Simple Geometry
contains five songs that, if nothing else, illustrate what sort of genre
chameleon Birdsong is. Three of the album’s five cuts are shrouded in ambient
textures – delays, reverb applied to his guitar, and an echo surrounded the
other instrumentation – that are quite atmospheric without ever sounding
gratuitous. The other two songs are obviously slanted towards a much more
singer/songwriter dominated ethos – acoustic guitar figures into both songs and
the delay and reverb defining so much of the EP’s sound disappears in favor of
a much cleaner, organic approach. Birdsong never adopts a dull tempo –
excepting the final song, Simple Geometry makes much of its reputation based on
its willingness to subvert, even slightly, the audience’s expectations. It does
a fantastic job of doing so without ever losing the pulse that first drove
Birdsong to sing and create.
“Unspeakable” opens the album with a
substantial taste of Birdsong’s considered and eloquent guitar playing. The warm delay and reverb applied to
Birdsong’s guitar never distracts from the beauty of his phrasing. His vocal
phrasing is equally appealing – he tightly tailors his singing to the
arrangement and the lyrical quality is highlighted by his deliberate approach.
The song makes much of its impact through a slow build. Percussion slowly comes
into play rather than immediately announcing itself and, by song’s conclusion,
is every bit as much a part of the musical tapestry as Birdsong’s guitar or
vocals. “Radio Waves” shows the same attention and care, but follows much of
the same trajectory as well. The gradually mounting musical drama, however, has
much more tension thanks to the dense clusters of notes Birdsong unleashes and
creates through the use of delay. The obvious dreamlike feel of songs like this
complements the lyrics and vocal delivery alike. Birdsong’s writing shows a
significant talent for compelling metaphors and much of this track is built
around the use of this literary device.
The mood of the EP shifts some with
“Drive”. The guitar presence is still strong, but Birdsong lays an acoustic
guitar part underneath the top line electric that makes the attack much
weightier than before. His vocal lacks a lot of the tension heard on the second
song, but the lack of urgency is actually relatively welcome just for the
change in color it provides. The tension returns with the penultimate song of
the release, “Why?” It adopts much of the same approach of building the song
and showing patience about bringing new sonic elements into the picture, but
there’s no question that the song has a stronger push than the first two tracks
despite their similarities in composition and sound. The final song, “You and
I”, goes in a completely different direction. The trickery and manipulation
fall away leaving listeners with nothing beyond Birdsong’s beautiful voice and
steady acoustic guitar. The intimacy of the performance is impressive and it
brings Simple Geometry to the ending it deserves.
9 out of 10 stars.
Joshua Stryde
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