Darlingside
Birds Say/Thirty Tigers
Birds Say is one of the rare instances where a band completely avoids the sophomore slump, taking its prodigious talent and somehow magnifying it by 10. The string rock quintet-turned folk is at its best here, whether it’s the dizzying bluegrass—taken up a notch by the clever mandolin licks from Auyon Mukharji—with wry, whimsical lyrics (“Harrison Ford”), laying down some beautiful Americana (“White Horses”) or making the hair on your neck stand up with the exquisite melodies and four-part harmonies (“Do You Ever Live”). With little more than subtle hand claps and languid strings, the group gives the title track subdued beauty, especially when paired with lyrics such as, “Don’t know what the birds say / Don’t know what the birds / Listen to them all day / Nothing sounds like words.” Vivid imagery and forthright examinations of love are among the album’s key themes, all of which make Birds Say an unquestionable knockout of a record.
JR JR
JR JR/Warner Bros.
If you like the cut of the jib on JR JR’s (formerly Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.) last album, The Speed of Things, you’ll be inclined to like JR JR as well. It’s an extension of the musical and lyrical territories that Speed explored—meaning that much of this album feels sedated and introspective. “Break My Fall” is a contemplative number about the people who make or break our lives, while “Caroline” is a confident ode to not giving a damn what others think. Much of the album follows theses types of thought-provoking themes, and the music that accompanies the journey is pretty eclectic. “Philip the Engineer” has a lumbering pop sound, while “Gone” features shades of Paul Simon in its funky bass and overall melody. “James Dean” plays like an R&B slow jam that got tossed into a blender with an ’80s-era synth ballad, and it represents a new era for this band. It’s a nice restart.
Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Under the Savage Sky/Bloodshot Records
So this is what punk sounds like if you mash it with rockabilly, R&B and the musical energy that made Chubby Checker a legend. From Whitfield’s unhinged vocals on the raucous “Rock and Roll Baby” to the lively, dance-inducing “The Claw,” which harkens back to the days of bands coining dance crazes like the twist, this record is an almost non-stop rock party. Rumblers like “Bad News Perfume” and “Katy Didn’t” highlight the roller coaster ride of love with lines such as “She makes me want to claw my eyes out” and “Katy tried to kill me with a clip-on tie/Katy didn’t care so why should I?” Under the Savage Sky is a high-octane, gritty album that will leave you sore in places you didn’t know you could be sore by the time you’re through dancing. Party on.