EP Review: The Morning Birds, “Bloom”

Divided into seasons, the Morning Birds’ Bloom EP innately represents the cyclical nature of not only the year, but also life itself. Dubbed a “collaborative concept album,” the band recruited a number of known DJs (San Fransisco’s Dimond Saints, who’s been featured in Billboard, VIBE and on the top of Hyp.em charts; Crystal Castles remixer Alex Zelenka/Invisibles; Canada’s first DJ collective and current hosts on Nasty.fm Knife & Fork; Prizm Prime; and well-known Belarusian DJ OptiX) to remix the title track, subsequently releasing the different tracks throughout the year on each of the New Moons. If that’s not cosmically divine, I don’t know what is.

From its first Beach Boys-like chorale, Bloom reaches deep down for something otherworldly. To describe the Morning Birds’ sound as ethereally electronic would be a vast injustice, as it sprinkles in jazz, “global lounge pop,” even shades of doo wop. It’s a vibe that many bands in the Williamsburg scene and otherwise reach for but never grasp. There’s something genuine and heartfelt in the Morning Birds’ music, even if it’s buried between layer after layer of instrumentation and vocals.

Beginning the cycle is “Indian Summer,” a lilting roller-coaster of a song with a funky tempo and ghostly whisper. As the EP rolls through “Winter,” “Spring,” “Summer,” and finally “Fall,” each DJ gives a unique interpretation befitting the season. While “Winter” includes a brisk, Hot Chip-esque tempo, “Spring” and “Summer” finally begin to jazz it up with tom-toms, major electronic wah-wah and heavy synth action. By “Fall,” you’re singing along (at least I was), since the same refrain is essentially repeated over and over. Thankfully, each arrangement is so different, it never feels repetitive.

As far as collaborative efforts go, this one’s particularly fresh and unique, perhaps because it does incorporate that global influence within the subdivisions of seasons. It ably conveys a nuanced feeling, hard to do with historically cold and robotic electronica, but somehow, the Morning Birds & Co. pull it off. It seems like purple prose to call this a landmark album, but it might just become one that, years from now, is cited by up-and-comers as a major underground influence.

So, now, please check out the entire Bloom EP from the Morning Birds, out today, and streaming EXCLUSIVELY here on Popdose!