Birdtalker - "Heavy"
I’ve only recently started to fall in love with this band. They’ve got that folk/blues/country mix that just speaks right to my heart. In a Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros meets First Aid Kit kind of way, they’ve figured out how to balance the beauty of their truth with the blade of their melody.
From their website:
BIRDTALKER IS ZACK AND DANI GREEN, ANDY HUBRIGHT, BRIAN SELIGMAN, AND JESSE BAKER.
Zack and Dani were married in 2012 and soon after their wedding tried writing a couple songs together. They liked it, so they wrote a couple more. Andy, a friend from college and very talented drummer, was into the songs and started beating on stuff while Zack and Dani played them. It sounded good. While these 3 were playing the songs at Shakespeare in the Park one August afternoon, Brian became interested in adding his immense talent to the mix as well and began playing along with mandolin and guitar. It sounded even better. Birdtalker as these 4 members wrote and practiced for about a year when yet another talented friend and Birdtalker's biggest fan, Jesse, expressed interest in lending his bass sounds to the band. It is the combination of each member's specific offerings that gives Birdtalker the life and sound that it now possesses. And it doesn't hurt that they all like each other a heck of a lot, too.
Zack and Dani write songs as a way to share ideas they care about and sentiments they feel deeply. Playing music has proven to be a powerful avenue for connection and communion, within the band as well as with listeners. Birdtalker's hope is simply that the more music they write and share, the more true and vulnerable interactions may be born from it.
Many of Birdtalker's songs have an airy Americana feel. While embracing elements of garage rock and staying true to their folk roots, the lyrical content is thought-provoking and inquisitive. They tinker with the meaning of religion in songs such as "Outside the Lines" and question universal meaning and domesticity in others -- not your typical country commentary. Birdtalker make joyful music with a moody twist (if you're listening closely).
Before they released their debut record, One, in 2018, Birdtalker caught the attention of the world with today’s choice track "Heavy." Released independently as their debut single in 2016, it quickly accumulated over 24 million streams; now at 36 million listens, it's been covered by legions of fans on social media, and given them a national fan base. Last September, the group released a video for the song that features Nashville ballet dancers, a stunning visual complement.
So today, as a Mountain Lion pretending to be a tabby cat, I choose Birdtalker’s "Heavy" as my, own up to it, take it on, take it out, song for a, look for the jewel beneath the water, icy though it may be, walk through fire and over ice, Monday.