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Birdpen -  “On/Off/Safety/Danger”

Now it is safe to say that BirdPen are a band that will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered, and that was clear when I witnessed one of their first live performances down The Joiners a couple of years back.  I was hooked then and wondered what would be next for them…well now in my hands I have their debut album and I am more than interested!

One of the things that concerned me about BirdPen was what would happen to them once the music industry got their claws in, for as an Ex Admiral once said “We're all pawns, m'dear.”, but upon listening to “On/Off/Safety/Danger” I think they are far from pawns.

“Breaking Precedent” kicks the album off and immediately a tone is set that lets you know that you aren’t where you used to be…things will be different in your life from this point on. “Breaking Precedent” contains a very clever literacy device used in their lyrical structure that I will leave for you to work out, whilst the music behind the lyrics echoes across you like a call from a far away land, the spirit of  Ian Curtis floats in and out of this song aswell…

As “Breaking Precedent” reaches its climax and more mellower tune comes to the front of the mix and leads into “Airspace”, which on first listen plays like the greatest Sunday morning song you have never heard, yet lyrics like “I left my head in the fuzzy tv again, along with my thoughts that I thought id never lose again” once again put you on guard that we might be just scratching the surface of a deeper message, and as I start to question I remember a sign that was once at a Labour Exchange -  “Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself.” As I start to think about this deeper Dave Pen’s vocals call out “Clear the airspace, cause I need to crash!” and my thoughts and questions do crash, right down into James Livingston Seagull and Mike Bird’s electro hum which takes me into the albums next track “Off”.

For a band who I am told “never trust a woman, even the four-legged variety”, “Off” seems like the album track that shows the darker side of human emotion especially when Dave Pen tells us that “Something turned my heart to black so I couldn’t feel it”.  “Off” is a shamanic ride through your consciousness that leaves you wondering if you should feel emotion or not, and as you come to a decision it ends abruptly before you make your mind up. An intended metaphor I’m not sure but makes you think…

“Machines Live Like Ordinary People” has a clear message and wall of sound used to deliver it that calls hints at a number of musical influences from The Doors, The Cult, through to Depeche Mode.  This song really does end up “knocking on your door” and will be wicked in a Guinness advert one day!

Up next “Man on Fire” which starts as normal as you can get on this album, and just as you think you can relax with this tune the lyrics tell you in a non threatening way that “you keep on drinking cause your hiding from your real self, giving up everything, but you say that you’ve tried” – and instantly your mind starts racing, questioning your own existence and what you have achieved in your own life.  As you contemplate your own existence Mr Pen advises us “Your so alone in this place so run and take the money”, a reflection on perhaps what we all think sometimes, the song asks the question “how will he get out of here?”, the song then leaves us to make our own kind up.

The shortest track of the album “The Ghost Bird” hits my airwaves next, which is a eerie acoustic number that is full of fear about never seeing someone again and leads into the albums longest track (8mins 1 sec) “Admiral Red”.  The song opens with a wall of white noise and some voices you can’t quite make out, sinister keys begin to influence proceeding before a beat kicks in and takes as on another journey around Birdpen’s village.  The guitars this time become more dominant and bring a low-fi punk element to the proceedings and help escalate the panic and urgency of the lyrics - “I need to escape this place, I might end up dead, I don’t feel safe round here, help me Admiral Red”

“Slow” follows and it sounds as if we have waited for “Admiral Red” and he hasn’t appeared to save is, and we are taking matters into our own hands with the lyrics “Turn the lights out and go, don’t do me in slow”.

Next we investigate “The Birds and the Antennas” which opens as if you have awoke somewhere you are not quite sure of, something I’m sure we can all relate to, but unlike a strangers arm chair, this song makes you feel you have awoken somewhere more sinister…”Thorns” on the other hand shows signs of acceptance and possible giving up and accepting things how they are.  Self doubt looms awash a large building musical score that builds a wave of momentum and floods your system with contradiction.

This wave flows on into the final album track “Cold Blood”, which seems to lyrically round up all that we have experienced over the preceding ten tracks.  “cold blood in our veins, nothing will remain,” is the mantra that closes “On/Off/Safety/Danger”.  Musically it suggest comparisons with Richard Ashcroft, but on the back of the other work on this album it is in fact our Emerald City.  We have walked down Birdpen’s yellow brick road only to find our sat nav might be being controlled by someone other than the Wizard!

Birdpens album “On/Off/Safety/Danger” is like the cave in Dagobah from “Star Wars:  The Empire Strikes Back”. When Luke asks “What’s in there?” Yoda answers “What ever you take with you”. This is the greatest strength and weakness of the album.  If you’re like me and regularly question the universe over breakfast most days you will love it, for those of you who like your music a bit more formulaic with a sing along chorus you may want to go and dust off your Boo Radley’s cd and go wake up Boo!

The album plays like one long adventure of realisation, and whilst not a concept record as far as I know, all the tracks perfectly flow and you feel that if you missed one track out you may get lost on the journey it is taking you on.  “On/Off/Safety/Danger” is the escape manual of the media driven society we have found ourselves in, like the sunglasses in John Carpenter’s “They Live” Birdpen are showing us what is really there and providing us with a way out of it.  They leave us with the question of have we really escaped th
ough?

“ON/Off/Safety/Danger” requires an investment from the listener, each time your hear it you will pick up different things from it, and I’m sure that it five years time I will still be noticing little parts or meanings I missed previously.  This is almost David Lynchian in its musical standard and a must for anyone who talks to 7ft rabbits on golf courses in the early hours of the morning.

All that remains is . . . recognition of Birdpen!

On/Off/Saftey/Danger can be purchased from iTunes NOW.. and from record stores from 9th March 2009.

http://www.myspace.com/birdpen

BirdPen live in Paris (by grandcrew.com)