BIRDIE BUSCH

Pattern of Saturn

2009-09-08

One word comes to mind after listening to the latest from Emily "Birdie" Busch titled Pattern of Saturn - POTENTIAL. Yes, this girl has great potential mostly because of her ability to coin catchy melodies with everyday life kind of lyrics. For you new comers, think of a Laura Veirs/Jenny Lewis kind of mix, and this is what you might have. On the opener, "Penny Arcade," what's immediately evident is the beauty of Birdie's voice along with a lush melody making for a really terrific song. On "Bordertown," Birdie takes on the voice of a Mexican dishwasher (Gabino) and creates another song well worthy of a listen or two. One of the best is the short but worthy "Roll It." Here, the singer/songwriter delves into what some might describe as 'rockabilly' as she sings: "This space between us / it's much too wide / I guess with earthquakes / come divides." Another effort deserving of 'Best Of' status is the song "Hometown Boredom," which scales things back a bit for a more mellow and melancholy sound. All in all, perhaps the biggest disappointment with Birdie's latest is the length of the effort as a whole. Coming in at just over thirty-three minutes - with two songs of extremely short length - what you're left with here is an album with nine songs that begs the question: Why not more? Great potential? You bet. Room for improvement? Absolutely. ~Reviewed by Jeff Bouma

Quick Links:

More reviews tagged #Folk

  • reviewed 09/2010

    DARDEN SMITH
    Marathon

  • reviewed 05/2011

    YAEL NAIM & DAVID DONATIEN
    She was a Boy

  • reviewed 02/2006

    VARIOUS ARTISTS
    Texas Unplugged: Vol 2

  • reviewed 10/2014

    ROSS COOPER
    GIVE IT TIME

  • reviewed 06/2008

    HAYDEN
    In Field and Town

  • reviewed 10/2004

    Kaki King
    Legs to Make Us Longer

Compiled by the WYCE Journalism Club

The opinions expressed in these reviews are those of the individual volunteers that submitted the article and do not necessarily reflect the views of WYCE or GRCMC; nor its staff, donors, or affiliates.