Highlights: You Don’t Know, Crash Test, Would It Really Be A
Sin?, One Word More
Candy rock stuff.
Excellent songwriting covered in tasteful, delicious arrangements, all sung in
sweet and gorgeous boy/girl vocals only a consummate cynic would pass up. The
sort of catchy, feel-good indie pop release you will come back to again and
again. If only for those soulful, irresistible 500 Days Of Summer-styled vibes…
Indeed, Birds Fly South is such a warm, summary
experience. “Tell Me It’s Alright” opens with acoustic guitars and a brilliant
violin line that will on their own bring your mood several inches up – but then
it all comes with some prime melodic sugary rush. Rush that remains tasteful
and subtle and never even verges on the ‘guilty pleasure’ level. Some of
it is almost excessively infectious (“Would It Really Be A Sin?” should be all
over the radio as well as the charts), some of it is more wistful and gentle
(the folk-ish, slow-burning ballad “Time” has a terrific vocal melody and is a
grower). What unites these songs is that they are all well-written, and after several listens I can
no longer find a single song I’m not happy about. As for my favourite moments,
those would be the verses of “One More Time” that are flat-out delightful in
their sheer, juicy melodicism.
As far as debut albums
go, The Mastersons obviously created a minor classic here. Packed with great
tunes and lush instrumentation, Birds Fly
South is just one indie-pop confection after another. Not twee pop, though.
Candy rock.
8/10
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