A New Dawn Fades, I See The Nightbirds

The debut CD from Virginia’s A New Dawn Fades, I See The Nightbirds, is a life preserver for the music fan that doesn’t need a singer and loves to dive headfirst into the music. Stylistically, ANDF is a tough one to describe. To compare them with a well-known act would prove fruitless, since the band changes like a chameleon from song to song and sometimes during the same song.

The opening track, “No Experts On Big Things,” echoes the atmospheric musical landscape of Godspeed You Black Emperor but manages to not get as longwinded. The band crafts a free-standing musical story in the same time it takes to play a pop song. The band’s love of and influence by Fugazi is prevalent on “Glories of Summer Camps Past.” ANDF gets a little more experimental on the last couple of tracks. “He Carried Whip in His Trotter” is built upon a simple percussion track that sounds like someone tapping on a can. Normally, that would sound horrible but here it’s very intoxicating and hypnotizes you until the rest of the music envelopes you.

Interspersed between the songs are one-minute tracks that serve as a bridge. The songs are strong enough on their own, but with these bridges, the album comes across as one giant piece. The best compliment one can give this band is that all four members seem to act as one. The are no soaring guitar or drum solos that shine a spotlight on one person. The music has an almost jam-y feel to it, since it sound so organic and stream-of-consciousness. The band will play SXSW this year, and then the rest of the world will hear how great they are and they’ll surely become the darlings of Pitchfork or AP. Until then, remember who told you about them first.