serendipidous discoveries are always a little sweeter.
how i happened across brown bird is a story of internet enthusiasm. trying to buy my aunt an early christmas present from the very beautiful ferdinand homestore i received an email back from di, who runs it telling me not only how to buy lovely things from her but also about her husband’s record label, peapod recordings which she thought we might like.
i should know to trust a lady who picks out lucite brooches not much bigger than a penny to sell.
when you explain your label by saying “the double ended shape of the Peapod makes it excellent for maneuvering around rocky shores that larger boats cannot get close to”, then resistance is futile.
meandering about peapod’s site i came across mention of brown bird and being a fan of all things brown and birdlike i followed their flightpath and happened across this gem. though they’re not on peapod, head gardener- ron harrity has engineered and maybe produced (sorry i don’t know) the delightfully named ‘the map room project’ with the band over the new england summer.
in that beautiful ‘ahh, its a small, small world’ way i notice they’re playing with friends of a few friend’s denison witmer later in the year too.
this track is from their most recent (until the map room project is unleashed) album, such unrest. it’s that soft, slow, fuzzy, folky americanism that i’m so partial to. maybe it’s my recently re-awoken nesting instinct which this track appeals to with its woodsmoke cabin atmosphere and fears of familial commitment romanticism, but lead vocalist david lamb has a fragile, world weary whisper like tillman’s or damien jurado or will oldham and it makes me long for autumn twilights and patchwork quilts. a sweet female voice wends its way round the track enveloping the questions, banjo strum and slide guitar like a scent and its over before you’ve grasped it’s begun.
more (hopefully) from peapod over the coming months until then; nest with the brown bird.