9 Pound Chihuahua

Right now North Carolina has two bands whose music really shine through with their stripped down sound.
In the case of the Bowerbirds and the Midtown Dickens, less really is more. The Bowerbirds album, Hymns for a Dark Horse, is chock full of haunting melodies that you just can’t get out of your head.
Many of these songs concentrate on humanity’s relationship with mother earth. On the song, “In Our Talons,” they sing, ‘You’re in our talons now and we’re never letting go.” A beautifully arranged tragic song about how we are plundering this earth. As these minstrels sing their song, you can almost feel the earth crying out to you please stop. When I first heard this song, I was indeed hooked on the Bowerbirds and never realized how much texture and emotion an accordion along with a simple drum beat could bring to a song. They are truly angels as they sing in harmony on “My Oldest Memory.” These hymns are truly something to behold.
Similarly, the Midtown Dickens, take instruments like the accordion and a simple banjo and weave an emotional fabric through their songs. These songs on “Oh Yell” are not as dark as ones by the Bowerbirds.
Many of the Midtown Dickens songs portray what is like to grow up in our society with a focus on our interactions with other human beings. Listening to “The Job Song,” it takes me back to those days of trying to find employment in an auspicious economy just after graduating from college and taking any job I could get.
Perhaps it built character, but nevertheless, it was pretty gut wrenching.
The song “Eggs and Toast” exposes the vulnerability you experience when you meet that person you like so much, but fear that they will not reciprocate. Secretly, you hope that they feel the same way. We have all been there. They lighten the mood with “Tetris”. You know you have been there interlocking little blocks over and over again. All the while, loosing all moisture out of your eyes and hands cramping from holding the controller.
Both these albums will charm the pants off of you.
The subtle beaty of the Bowerbirds and the disarming charm of the Midtown Dickens are both worth possessing and adding to your collection. In this day and age of high tech music, they prove that lyrics and choice of instruments can convey so much more genuine warmth than a digital loop.

-Parker

The Bowerbirds CD-Hymns for a Dark Horse you can purchase here www.burlytime.com/shop

The Midtown Dickens CD-Oh Yell! you can purchase here www.307knoxrecords.com