The Stray Birds
Album: The Stray Birds
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.thestraybirds.com

This disc arrived with high recommendations from folks I trust, and in the wake of an excellent grapevine. If traditional-sounding bluegrassy-oldtime-folk with the authentic backporch vibe is your bag, then you'll not fail to lap this up eagerly. The Stray Birds hail from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and have been together just over three years now. Though they're but a trio, The Stray Birds make a sound that's not exactly sparse: clear-textured yet full in tone, with fiddle, occasional banjo, guitars and bass together conjuring a generously rounded sound picture that fits their self-penned material like a glove. Having received glowing reports of Stray Birds live appearances since the release of their debut recording (2010's Borderland EP), I'm heartened to observe that a potent intimacy of delivery and expression is a keynote of their approach on this eponymous new record too.

Fiddle player Maya de Vitry has one of those memorable voices that sells a song straight into your heart by combining plain-talking southern sultriness with a sweetly moulded observance of the lyric that demonstrates deep understanding and insight, while guitarist Oliver Craven does the biz in time-honoured country fashion with straight-down-the-line conviction and an honest-to-goodness grasp of any emotion. And then those two voices gel together with that of bass player Charles Muench to produce some subtle yet forthright harmonies that really breathe rather than smothering the melody line.

Having already confirmed the exceptional quality of the singing and the keen musicianship (which also incorporates a telling feel for the inventive, if only occasional use of textures like electric and resophonic guitar). I might now stand to be accused of hyperbole when I come to report that the folks' songwriting is first-rate too. Just to have written the opener Dream In Blue would probably ensure Maya's name a place on any Awards nomination, but her remaining compositions on this disc are no less fine: the lilting waltzer Wildflower Honey wouldn't disgrace a Katy Brislin or Hazel Dickens album, while the atmospheric Harlem might easily've come straight out of the Gillian Welch songbook and the final track Wind And Rain is 100% pure undistilled essence of backporch (complete with crickets etc.). Oliver tends to take the vocal lead on his own songs, of which 25 To Life, Heavy Hands and My Brother's Hill are the pick of the crop. And it must say something too that even when surrounded by all those glorious songs, one of the disc's undisputed standouts, and a crowning achievement, turns out to be a breathtaking, truly air-cutting twin-fiddle instrumental medley.

OK, so there has to be a caveat somewhere, some kind of reservation that prevents me from awarding this record the ultimate accolade - and so it proves, in the shape of the pair of uptempo numbers, which, though brilliantly authentically managed in an appealing hick/hillbilly-barroom-swing mode, seem to disrupt the mood of the disc a touch (though I bet Just Sayin' is a real hoot at a live gig). But hey, that sounds a mite churlish, and after a few playthroughs I certainly felt more comfortable with those contrasting manoeuvres, so maybe in time something approaching an ultimate accolade can be dusted off for The Stray Birds after all.

David Kidman