The Bures Band

Bures Band hit their Aussie release date, with a few more days to go in the US, but this one’s such a favorite around here that it’s hard to wait. Quickly crawling up my list of 2023 favorites, the Aussie outfit captures the Cosmic American curl better than the bulk of their U.S. counterparts. Concurrent with his work in Mt. Mountain, Stephen Bailey had been releasing a quiet cache of solo records that were steadily building scope, peaking with last year’s gorgeously pastoral G.G. Rider. That record dipped further into the ’70s Americana strain that crests so clearly on Birds Nest, and the new record feels like an extension of what he began there. No longer solo, though, Bailey is joined by a full roster of contemporaries, including Callum Anderson, Danny Miles Drums, Noah Symmans and Tom Beech. The band finds themselves flirting with CSN, Byrds, and the air of the Allmans. The new quintet has captured the dynamic of the deep bench ensemble to perfection, a wellspring of talent makes creating classics seem easy.

The banner names from the ‘70s country corner only cover a portion of what’s happening on Birds Nest, though. Slide the record into the bins and bang it up and it would be easy to convince a cosmic country cutout collector that this was a lost artifact, languishing in wait alongside copies of Cowboy, Taos, Sand, Country Funk, and Fat. Dive deeper and the band’s also picking through the pillars of psych-folk, with nods to Relatively Clean Rivers on “Drifting” and Euphoria on “Early Riser.” Plenty have harnessed the dusted dungaree drawl of the ‘70s these days, but what really seems to solidify the sell on Bures Band are the layered harmonies. There are few that are pulling off the three and four part harmonies pinned to the easy careen that the band makes seem so effortless. The record only grows more endearing with each listen. At first blush it feels like a record that’s been in your life forever, and the longer it lingers, the more it feels like one that will never leave. An absolute ’23 essential.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE (AUS) or HERE (US).