Twilight Bird EP

Brendan Campbell

Everybody Records

2008-06-16

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• (Reviewer)

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• (Member — 0 votes)

Twilight Bird is the first EP from Glasgow native Brendan Campbell who, along with his guitar, follows in the tracks of a rich tradition of British male folk singer-songwriters notably including Bert Jansch and Davy Graham. Opening track “Burgers and Murders” tackles this heritage with a modern twist however, with effected vocals, otherwise reminiscent of Nick Drake or fellow Scot Donovan Leitch. Following it “Twilight Bird”s summery chords weighed in with piano accompaniment lift the finger pickings and the now natural (and stronger for it) vocals up a notch in a track which also moves across more ground with its chord progressions than its repetitive predecessor, overall offering a much more pleasing effort. 

in classic Dylan progressions as it tells its world-weary tale

The shorter yet more impassioned and strummed third track “Comets”, though unfortunately musically less interesting track than the both previous (veering away from the Graham/Jansch/Drake finger-picked sound) is a number informed by personal tragedy, and its straighter Dylanesque style works for its emotional end. Closing track “Mr Robinson” melds the feel of both “Comets” and the title track, offering strummed-chords as its musical basis, with a lighter feel, still in classic Dylan progressions as it tells its world-weary tale.

In sum Twilight Bird will likely offer interest to fans of classic folk, both as its unassuming style is well-played and written and also due to the fact it wears its influences so plainly, however for that same latter reason, it might not spread out to many others, who may unfortunately find the unassuming package underwhelming.