Birdpen take their name from the founding duo of Mike Bird and Dave Pen - the third band member being the improbably named drummer Dave Livingstone Seagull.
Having formed somewhere in South West England in 2004 ,their debut album has been a long time coming but finally surfaces now thanks to a deal with a French independent label.
Appropriately enough,'Pen' is the chief lyricist. His main preoccupations are of isolation and alienation, feelings which are expressed in metaphorical rather than confessional terms.
The recurring theme is that of himself, and by implication mankind as a whole, being oppressed and overly in thrall to the power of machines. Birdpen portray themselves as doomgroovers who "exist on the perimeters of a destructive world they do not feel a part of". Televison is so frequently is portayed as the primary threat that the record can essentially be regarded as a kind of concept album.
As well as the track 'Machines Live Like Ordinary People' , there are lines such as "I left my head in the fuzzy TV again'('Airspace'), "Something took control inside the screen , I couldn't turn it off" ('Off') and "Kill all the satellites, stop the machines"' ('Slow'). This culminates in the ultimate Big Brother fear expressed on the closing track ('Cold Blood') that ominously warns that TV will ultimately "Broadcast the downfall".
The songs may have an instrospective slant yet their epic qualities betray the band's anthemic aspirations. In this regard inevitable comparisons to Radiohead will be drawn - more than once I was reminded of Thom Yorke's melancholy refrain "I'm not here - this isn't happening" from Kid A's 'How To Disappear Completely'. The vocals and arrangements are also similar to Tim Booth's 'James', especially on 'Airspace' and 'Thorns'.
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Yet, while the electro-indie sound is a familiar one, Birdpen do more than slavishly follow a tried and tested formula. The lyrics are not of the straightforward 'woe is me' variety but are intrigingly enigmatic enough to repay repeated listens. The arresting first line of 'Breaking Precedent' - "Bright inuits die protecting Eskimo's nature" - which opens the album, sets the tone.
Perhaps it's because of the relatively lengthy gestation period that the band sound is so tight and album as a whole assured.
Bird and Pen apparently have around a hundred new songs to choose from for the follow up so this may be just the beginning of a great adventure. Welcome to the machine.
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