Birdie – Some Dusty

I’ve spent quite a bit of time dedicating a corner of this site to hidden gems, the kind of records that got away. The debut from Birdie is certainly a contender for the term. Tucked away on a small subsidiary of Polydor and shifted under Universal at the last minute, the label’s only other notable releases come from Marianne Faithfull, an odd pairing for the collaborative output of members of East Village and Dolly Mixture. Now, you had me right at those two names, already cemented as indie pop royalty, but the band goes further as Debsey Wykes and Paul Kelly formed the band while the two were acting as part of Saint Etienne’s backing band.

As might be expected, from Wykes and Kelly’s resumes, the band excels at crafting indie pop odes with an ear towards ‘60s harmonies and sunshine strums. The record is immaculately crafted, setting Wykes’ wistful vocals in meticulous dioramas of guitars, organs, and detailed embolishments that would skew tellingly twee in lesser hands, but wind up timeless instead. Given that the album landed in 2000, during the high-water of indie’s tenure, it seems that this should have found an easy alliance with folks picking up Fold Your Hands Child, Oui, or Hyacinths And Thistles. Nevertheless, Slumberland gives it a proper new day in the light this year, a perfect pairing and probably a more fitting avenue for the band after all. If this one slipped away into the intangible one its original release, now’s a good time to catch up.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.