Expanded Bird Names lands for a concert

Bird Names is a "fringe pop" band from Athens, Ga.

KNOXVILLE — Knoxville is the first stop for Athens, Ga., band Bird Names as it embarks on an Eastern tour in support of its 2011 release "Metabolism: a Salute to the Energy of the Sun."

The band that has performed much of its career under a two-piece format will see its live potential furthered with an expanded roster of six. This enhanced ambience will help enable the act to reach a broader audience with its thoughtfully engaging and invigorating sounds.

For the music of Bird Names, any myriad of descriptions could apply, except perhaps "conventional." Compacted within each song are a volley of direct and indirect expressions that glow with the passion of a cultist and the philosophy of an acid trip. The gathering of lilting and intentionally vague ideas is forged into a soundtrack to the intricate workings of nature on "Metabolism."

Vocalist/guitarist David Lineal classifies the style as "fringe-pop," a term conveying a handshake between the underground and mainstream. While this label is seemingly contradictory and ambiguous, anything otherwise would be inappropriate.

Although something so eccentric seems unlikely to find favor with everyone, bridging the gap between originality and accessibility is a primary intention of Bird Names, which might do the unthinkable with energetic solar anthems that are undeniably radiant.

"I see Bird Names as not of the indie or pop establishments but as a member of this underground movement, laboring to make meaningful work," explains Lineal. "Our goal is to make art — to use tone and sound in a novel way to express an ambiguous truth about life and the world. We engage society by playing our music publicly, because we think it can be pro-social and positive for people to gather and experience together the vague yet true feelings made by our songs.

"Our newest album, 'Metabolism: a Salute to the Energy of the Sun,' is about recognizing the alien energy of the sun biologically animating our actions and dreams — the sun mediated through plants, animals and ultimately our metabolism in digestion. The album was conceived as an engraving of sunlight, as though the sun were speaking 40 minutes of sound."

Drawing a single comparison is difficult as the band's catalog spans a range of familiar atmospheres, recalling anything from Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 to Animal Collective or an organic Boards of Canada. Having toured so long with minimal personnel, Bird Names will now be able to deliver a fully representative live version of its work. Off-kilter even in its instrumental layout, which does not include bass, Lineal assures that the setup accurately reproduces the meticulously written and recorded material.

"We have been making records for six years, and with 'Metabolism' we aspired to the highest (personally) possible bar of composition — to write, rewrite, edit and deeply contemplate every bar of music," Lineal points out. "We wanted it to be (so) deep that you could listen to it a hundred times and hear something you never noticed before. We wanted to make it sound like a planet, spinning along on internal logic.

"So we made this very deliberate record, which sounds wild and free but is quite composed, and transposed it exactly to a psychedelic band of three guitarists, two drummers and a keyboardist. And it sounds just like the record, which is something because the record sounds crazy."

Bike in business: Saturday Barley's Taproom hosts an all-day benefit show for injured bicyclist Steve Hancock, starting at 3 p.m. The lineup includes Will Fist, Econopop, Greg Horne, Katie and the Bass Drums, Stolen Sheep, Tim Lee 3, Three Man Band, Senryu and Fine Peduncle. Admission is $10.

Rock of ages: Pilot Light hosts a Royal Bangs double feature Saturday night. The 7 p.m. show welcomes all ages and includes a performance by Yung Life. Mutations will open the 10:30 show, which admits ages 18 and older. The cost for either or both presentations is $10.

© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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