Artist/Band: Birds of Passage
Album: \"WINTER LADY\"
Released: 2011
For someone who thinks it's difficult to describe music in general it's even more difficult to describe the soundscapes of Birds Of Passage. The influences of Alicia Merz, the girl behind Birds Of Passage, are her memories, breathless-inspiring cold winds, the smell and atmosphere of a spring day, smoking cigarettes, sunshine and shadows. As a mixture of all these elements and a minimalistic experimental instrumentation you could describe her music as follows: sometimes shy, sometimes more energetic but always intensely and extremly private.
Alicia doesn't need the bombastic spectacle of a band to evoke emotions, with the help of different instruments, used in a minimalistic way and combined with field recordings she doesn't create specific songs, she builds up a mood. You maybe can describe Birds Of Passage as a singer songwriter for people who don't like singer songwriter music. There's no typical song structure, there's no melody to chase after but there's a development which absorbs you and which makes you start to think about elements you block out in your everyday life.
A masterwork of minimalism, WINTER LADY - Alicia Merz's sophomore solo effort as BIRDS OF PASSAGE sees a return to the desolate and melancholic soundcscapes of her highly acclaimed debut, WITHOUT THE WORLD. With WINTER LADY, Alicia presents us with an endearing invitation into her fragile world, a captivating journey through the landscapes of her emotional euphoria and agony, a further commitment to musical experimentation, a worthy addition to the oeuvre of BIRDS OF PASSAGE.
The cold minimalist-drones, distorted field recordings, and sparse instrumentation, illustrate an icy, desolate and dark world. It's as if we are listening to the sound of winter itself; an audio exposure to the unforgiving elements of winter.
HIGHWAYMEN IN MIDNIGHT MASKS, with it's foreboding atmosphere, minimalist composition, and fairytale lyrics, is a 'Bittersweet Swan Song' that bares the characteristics of a true classic, albeit with a sense of post-modern descent.
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