{"id":985,"date":"2017-10-25T14:43:15","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T14:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/"},"modified":"2018-03-22T23:29:52","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T23:29:52","slug":"review-slaughter-beach-dog-birdie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Slaughter Beach, Dog – Birdie"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The recent loss of Modern Baseball has already taken effect. In an emo scene that’s become fractious in recent times, they served as a rock of stability within its turbulent waters. And judging by ‘Birdie’<\/i>, the newest album from MoBo vocalist \/ guitarist Jake Ewald under the Slaughter Beach, Dog<\/b> moniker, there’s a mirror placed right in front of that sadness. Coupled with the mental health issues that Ewald has made no secret about expressing in the past, ‘Birdie’<\/i> is a deeply expressive and human listen.<\/p>\n

The primary vehicle for this comes with Ewald himself, plain-spoken and flat in his vocal delivery in a way that totally aids the direction he aims for. ‘Pretty Okay’<\/i>’s assertions of “Everything was fine, everything was good”<\/i> buried halfway in the mix and nestled in Ewald’s complete lack of artifice makes for a particularly sombre listen, as do the imagery laden and slightly overwritten lyrics of ‘Shapes I Know’<\/i> and ‘Fish Fry’<\/i>. There’s not a hint of flash or unnecessary gimmickry here, just Ewald digging deep into himself and laying the results bare.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Of course, with instrumentation that gives him little to nothing to hide behind in this regard, that was always going to be the case, and ‘Birdie’<\/i>’s deliberate downplaying keeps that narrative right at its forefront. Minimalism is definitely a strength here, with the simple guitar and organ pieces on ‘Phoenix’<\/i> and ‘Friend Song’<\/i> running thick with a rich, earthy swell, and the country influences that particularly come to the fore on ‘Acolyte’<\/i> that pair with Ewald’s storytelling for an utterly gorgeous closing track.<\/p>\n

There’s nothing garish or bombastic here, just heartfelt songwriting and instrumentation that accentuates its best elements. Even if that may put some off with a preference for something more daring and expansive, ‘Birdie’<\/i> at its core feels primarily like a labour of love, rough around the edges but with an introspective heart that may be somewhat broken, but shines through regardless. Definitely worth the time to delve into.<\/p>\n

4\/5<\/p>\n

‘Birdie’<\/i> by Slaughter Beach, Dog<\/b> is released on 27th October on Big Scary Monsters<\/b> \/ Lame-O Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Slaughter Beach, Dog<\/b> links: Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Luke Nuttall (@nuttall_luke<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recent loss of Modern Baseball has already taken effect. In an emo scene that’s become fractious in recent times, they served as a rock of stability within its turbulent waters. And judging by ‘Birdie’, the newest album from MoBo vocalist \/ guitarist Jake Ewald under the Slaughter Beach, Dog moniker, there’s a mirror placed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":16726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[136,713,169,15029,688],"class_list":["post-985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-big-scary-monsters-records","tag-birdie","tag-lame-o-records","tag-luke-nuttall","tag-slaughter-beach-dog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Slaughter Beach, Dog - Birdie - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The recent loss of Modern Baseball has already taken effect. 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