British Birds: Silence Daedalus
(Self-release)
LP | DL
Out now
Chosen as ones to observe in our 25 of 2025, Chorley’s British Birds return with album quantity 2 – a beautiful assortment of garage-pop tinged with northern psych.
Since we first picked up on Chorley’s British Birds with the discharge of their debut album, the band have actually began to fly. The top of 2024 noticed them launch a brand new EP, head out on tour with LTW favourites The Beautiful Eggs, and get picked up by BBC6’s Marc Riley for a dwell session. It’s no shock given the type of joyously infectious songs that they’re placing out, and new album, Silence Daedalus, is a large leap ahead for them in some ways. Whereas retaining the lo-fi allure of their debut, there’s a focus within the sound, the supply, and the general confidence that makes the album brim with verve and power.
Latest single, This Bin, is the proper early living proof. It harnesses every thing that makes the band so instantaneous – nice, easy riffs, a driving rhythm that powers the track ahead, unbelievable vocals from the entire band, every thing you might put in your lo-fi garage-psych want record. Coming after the fantastic Sheena’s Locket, which flits between surging choruses and verses that will make Stephen Malkmus proud, and the dreamy opener Child Blue, arpeggios and lightweight cascading by acoustic guitars, the band sounding like they need to have, if born twenty years earlier, been Twisted Nerve’s biggest discovery, they ship a gap triplet that proves past doubt that we had been proper to incorporate them in our record of bands to observe out for this 12 months.
Drunk Dancing To The Ramones, Merry-Go_round, and Response Time present the band at their most quirkily garage-pop, akin to the present cop of bands like Supply. These are songs which might be little doubt going to get folks transferring when the band head out to play them dwell, whereas there are additionally moments once they appear to have been strolling by the northern hills with Velvet Underground’s Candy Jane on repeat, comparable to on Spinning Jenny Endlessly.
However nonetheless, there are jewels right here that shine much more. When singer Bobby Mambo takes a backseat and keyboardist/percussionist Emma Townson stands within the highlight to ship the fantastic Mom Of Jeanne, channelling her internal Françoise Hardy, she delivers a wonderful track a couple of “damaged witch of phrases”, a splendidly lush lounge-psych track that leads completely, this time with bassist Ellie Winstanley to the entrance, into Chivalry. With Bobby coming again to supply backing vocals within the refrain, the track glides effortlessly out of hypnotic verses right into a pure Tremendous Furry Animals-circa-’96 sound, the interaction between the 2 completely encapsulating the lyrical play, the conversations by the minds of the track’s two protagonists.
On Silence Daedalus, the band have put to 1 aspect the folkier aspect of their songs that they appeared extra steeped in on their first album to embrace the aspect of their songs that need to not sway you, however to take you by the collar to bounce. Like they sing early on, and naturally, the place the album takes its title, Daedalus didn’t say don’t fly / He simply stated you’ll have to construct higher wings / Stronger arms, stronger thoughts / Unlock it and also you’ll discover…
Unlock this and you’ll discover a real gem of an album by a band which might be persevering with to carve their very own lo-fi DIY path, making their approach by the thicket to seek out meadows of summer season expanse the place something is feasible. Whether or not British Birds keep a secret recognized solely to the twitchers or take issues additional stays to be seen, however no matter they do subsequent, we might be ready and watching. Primarily based on the leap they’ve made within the final 12 months, and on this new album, British Birds are a band to maintain firmly in your sights.
British Birds are on Bandcamp, Fb, and Instagram.
Catch them dwell right here:
23/09: George Tavern, London
24/09: Hyde Park Guide Membership, Leeds
25/09: Gullivers, Manchester
26/09: Bootleg Social, Blackpool
27/09: Float Alongside Pageant, Sheffield, UK
03/10: JT Soar, Nottingham
01/10: The Glad Cafe, Glasgow
03/10: JT Soar, Nottingham
04/10: Royal Lodge Whitby, Whitby
08/10: The Prince Albert, Brighton
09/09: The Music Corridor, Ramsgate
10/10: The Lanes, Bristol
11/10: The Grayston Unit, Halifax
16/10: The Deco, Portsmouth
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Phrases by Nathan Whittle. Discover his Louder Than Conflict archive right here.
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