Details

Album Cover
Artist
Birdie Hilltop
Album
Surround the Birthday
Label
Frigital
Released
July 05, 2004

Review

Thank you Birdie Hilltop.

Not only did you support my theory that all bands with a xylophone in them are automatically half cool/good, but you also add hope to my dream that lo-fi can and will still be an enjoyable format in this increasingly digitalized world. And, with Iron & Wine converting this year to the ultra crispness of studio recording, I was beginning to think all hope was lost. But no, crappy fuzzy lo-fi music lives on! Your little home tape recordings sounded like the eerie yet pleasant folk of Pseudosix meeting the songcraft of Elliott Smith, or, more specifically, recent hit Rogue Wave. Even if your album is as utterly sappy as The New Year, its melancholy came off as heartfelt, and it serves as a great indie slumber gloom recording. You may not be the best, but I'll love you (for a little while).

Yours truly,

Andrew

P.S. Please use your xylophone more often, as those songs that feature it over your regular wood tapping percussion are a lot nicer. Thanks.

Rating
70/100
Reviewer
Andrew Wexler
Published

Track List

  1. Looking for Your Hat
  2. Bucket of Laughs
  3. Megaphone
  4. That's My Girl
  5. As Kids
  6. You Know the Dance
  7. It's Raining Out
  8. She's a Liar
  9. Watch Out
  10. Running Queen
  11. I'm Fat