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HOW THE CAGED BIRD SINGS PHYSICAL, WITH FOLD OUT A3 POSTER
LIMITED EDITION.
Released September 2010, a mere 11 months after their eponymous, live debut.
Still not a band who like to make things easy on themselves, the Brutes decamped to the remote, snowy valleys of the Lake District and set up base in a village hall for the recording.
Unluckily for the band the hall’s Victorian heating system had broken down the night before their arrival and they were faced with the prospect of a week of recording in conditions just above freezing.
Produced by Choque Hosein (Black Star Liner, Black Wire, Hood & Lord Auch) who worked with the band on their first album, and engineered by Air Studios wiz Olga Fitzroy the record finds the band broadening their musical palette and involving one of the things they’d almost avoided on the first album: space. The hall’s natural reverb is heard all over these recordings, the atmosphere is darker and the pace a little slower allowing the songs time to breathe.
How The Caged Bird Sings is eleven songs linked by the theme of yearning, be it lust, desire or need; from the opening spaghetti dub of Lazarus, a retelling of the bible story as a parable to revive a failing relationship, through the Doorsian doo-wop of Whipping Boy which lends the album it’s title, up to the sardonic pop of album closer Heaven these songs find the band hiding less and less behind characters from mythology and fairy tales to stand up and bare their souls.
Fans of the live feel of their debut needn’t be disappointed either as the band have lost none of their feel. The imposing rockabilly rumble of first single ‘Could This Be Love?’ and the stone-age shamen stomp of ‘Birdman’ have lost none of their bequiffed bite.
The album also features three songs recorded live in the hall. ‘Banged & Blown’ and ‘Lyre Bird, Humming Bird’ are taken from a set of drunk hymns written by lead singer James Steel and taught to the band minutes before recording after a night in the pub. The instrumentation is improvised and they have a real field recording quality to them.
The third track ‘Wife’ is an eerie acoustic number also recorded live finds Steel lugubriously improvising the lyrics for the last verse. In fact so quick was the writing process for this album that many of Steel’s lyrics were completed/improvised at the time of recording a method that adds to the honest, heart-on-sleeve feel of some of the more intimate songs.
The artwork for the album has been created by legendary tattooist Mo Coppoletta and is based on themes from the songs. Physical copies of the album and limited edition 7” singles promise to be a visual feast as well.
Released on east London indie TAPE. The album is due to drop on the 13th September, with the album launch party to be held at London’s Luminaire on the 8th of September.