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EDIT INFOAugie March - Strange Bird
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Album Details
- Artist: Augie March
- Album: Strange Bird
- Label: BMG/Spinart
- Year of Release: 2002
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: dscanland on 2004-12-01
RecommendAugie March is bringing their now classic Strange Bird album to North American shores thanks greatly to SpinArt. The foursome released this album in 2002 and now it is being rereleased in North American on SpinArt. What's the big deal? Well, I didn't really see anything all that special about Strange Bird but after a few listens I did get into the mellow sounds of the Melbourne Australia band. This band has been around since about 1996 and has been gaining recognition in the home country. Augie March is a mellow band that rarely tips the decibels over to loud. The thing with Strange Bird is that you need to spend time with it. I always find that any album that I have to listen to more than 4 times to review, without growing to hate it, ends up being awesome. That is the case with Augie March. Some tracks have a jazzy spin on them like the "Addle Brains" and a couple others. I think my favorite track is the song "Sunstroke House". It is almost folky with the banjo accompaniment. The music is fairly lush, even though it's quiet. The production is done superbly. Lead vocalist, Glenn Richards is really a poet in the form of a songwriter. The music flows around, never really attacking you, but instead, luring you into believing. You hear new things on each listen. I am not even close to being done with Strange Bird. I am still digesting it and plan on doing so for quite some time. If you have some time, fall in love with Augie March. If you don't have time, you won't like it.
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on 2012-01-21 CharlesMartel Said:
Aussie chamber-folkists Augie March have always lurked on the edge of my field of musical vision, clearly there but indistinct and difficult to identify. They have always seemed to me like an Australian version of the Decemberists, but I decided that may be a bit harsh (on both bands) and so I decided to take the plunge and check them out.
"Strange Bird" is a strange release. For a start I have never heard a band who can do George Harrison almost as well as George Harrison himself. Hardly surprising then that their music has some heavy Beatles influences, but I also detect similarities with Coldplay. Whether that is this album only, or even pre-dates Coldplay, I do not know. It should come as no surpise then that "Strange Bird" is a sombre and thoughtful album, definitely one for the times when you feel a sudden burst of intellectualism coming on, or want to reopen that debate regarding music and art in your own head.
Now if you are thinking that " Strange Bird" is one of those highbrow albums which appeal to a certain class of people, you are probably right. It is not same sort of mildly pretentious rubbish that Elbow come up with, but genuine intellectual type music. The lyrics are too detailed and too precise to be labelled thoughtless and even though the imagery is sometimes odd, it is deliberately crafted to make a point. " There's Something at the Bottom of the Black Pool " is a case in point. I would not go so far as to say this was poetry, but it is certainly a cut above the usual lyrical output and on a totally different world to the mindless drivel of shake your funky booty .
Quite why the vocals have been pushed to the back of the mix and often get delivered in an almost spoken whisper is something I have not been able to fathom. The lyrics are the strong point and the music can, at times, sound disjointed and uneven. So, what's wrong with it then? In simple terms, one word - boring.
How something which holds so much interest within can be so boring is a mystery. And yet I really struggle to listen to this throughout. Augie March had the potential to create a masterpiece, but what they came out with was so laid back and languid, it seems like it is music you want to put on during a hot summer afternoon and take a nap. No matter how many times I listen to this, it always provokes the same reaction, and that is not a good sign.
Rating: 6/10
