Birds & Batteries
Stray Light
**and1/2 out of *****
There is a production sound and instrumentation that just screams neon colors, bad hair cuts and the early 80's. Birds & Batteries new release Stray Light washes its bright pink legwarmers in that sound.
This synth-pop Bay Area based band is the brain child of Mike Sempert who produced, wrote and arraigned all of the tracks here. There is a sparse funkiness that lends itself to fog machines, lasers and slow-dancing-without-touching on tracks like "I Want You" and "Evolutionary Step". In fact all of these tracks could be inspired by or used in prom scenes from John Hughes movies, or in the background in the more recent Drive.
Layers of instrumentation are at work with kettle drums and chimes on "Stray Light" while "Let The Door Swing" is constructed around disco bass lines, hand clap's and electro-keys. Sempert's voice has the disenchanted tone that works on almost a robotic level with these tunes never straining or going out of his range. The production sound and overall theme nails its intended target, so toss on your Rayban Wayfarers and awkwardly dance the night away.
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Stray Light isn't a bad album (hence the 2 and 1/2 stars) it is just that it is so specific, not unlike My Darling Clementine, but in this case I am certainly not the intended listener. You may be though so you can support the artist here and peep some samples of the album below:
Birds & Batteries- Let The Door Swing from Birds & Batteries on Vimeo.
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