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Birdie

Triple Echo

Label: IT Records

jwestfox by James Westfox November 13th, 2001

Oh My God!! How amazingly hard is this reviewing lark? Especially when faced with an album like this. An album so unremarkable, so devoid of anything different or exciting, and yet so harmless and quiet, it's difficult, if not impossible, to hate. Nightmare.

For those of you who don't know, and I'm guessing that's a fair number of you, Birdie are led by Indie stalwarts Paul Kelly and Deborah Wykes, who was a backing singer for St.Eteinne. They formed Birdie in late 1998 and this is their 2nd album. They are possibly the most 'Indie' band in the world. They play a gentle, mainly acoustic brand of melancholia, perfect for rainy afternoons in February, and sunny days in May.

"Triple Echo" is as calming as the blue sea rippling against a Caribbean beach. There are no 'standout' songs as such, and many tracks blend into one another like ingredients of a well-made cake. Many of them last less than two minutes. The album's centre-piece, "Blue Eyed Son" is probably most memorable. It swirls, it glides, it takes you in like a cheap ferry ride. Featuring a Doors Hammond Organ and Belle and Sebastian lyrics, "Blue Eyed Son is the track I'd play you if I was trying to get you into Birdie.

Despite this, "Triple Echo" is a bland record. It's NOT a record to sit down a listen to with headphones. It's not a record to play Air Guitar to. It's a record to do your homework to. A record to fall asleep to. A Chill-Out record.

Like Middlesbrough FC, Sugar Puffs, Jo Whiley and an episode of Frasier, this is a good, but not very good, thing.

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