BIRDS & FISHES

BWY's debut is a bit naive record. Cover artwork makes you think of some lame PhotoShop samples, song titles are a bit confusing, and the mood you're in (before listening) is quite skeptic. Music saves it all, and when you're through with the album, you don't care anymore for anything but Music.

OK, it's 2004. It's 10 years since BARK PSYCHOSIS genre-founding album, 7 years since GY!BE's ground-breaking debut and 2 years since SILENCE KIT's debut album. Unlike SK's effort, that was more an indie/shoegaze trick, 'Birds & Fishes' is strongly a Post-Rock album. No, wait, it's not even Post- Rock: this is more like Ambient Rock, if you ever heard of one, filled with drones, mystical background sounds and guitars that sound like keyboards. Uplifting mood, major harmonies and waves of layers of sound washing you - this is how 'The Bird is sleeping' begins (free to download from band's official web- site). Somewhere around 8th minute drums enter, and the whole structure unfolds, flowing around 4/4 and 6/8 passages in the same warm and uplifting mood. It's not like this track is STRUCTURED or BUILT, no, it's rather FLOWS unstopped from one section to another. 'The new zero for a wide wasteland' is more like a Post-Rock track we've all used to (with obvious climax and some voice samples), but the feeling of 'I-heard-this-before' is mercilessly ruined by disturbing drones and out- there sounds, quite frightening and moody. This one is also free-to-download. 'III' uses melody I heard somewhere before in BWY works (on 2006 album I believe), and again it has structure close to the opening track - it's not Post-Rock, it's more like Ambient played on guitars and drums. The main theme unfolds for the whole 17 minutes, and sudden acoustic guitar coda (very tasteful and fresh) ends this wonderful trip.

Despite the absence of strong melodic hooks and some naive attitude, 'Birds and Fishes' is fine addition to any Post-Rock collection, especially if you're into more Ambient side of this music or just looking for rare and interesting stuff. 3.5 stars rounded to 4, a good record indeed, but I won't recommend it for starters - better begin with 2006 or later albums.