BIRTHDAY ASS have it fully goin’ on at 45 degrees to the rest of our heads, that’s a fact.
They take their inspiration from new wave, no-wave, jazz, punk-funk, get it whisked up into a refreshing sonic smoothie. Delish and weird, refreshing the parts other music can’t reach.
Only three weeks or so back we took a look at the excellent “Blah”, which really was zero-fucks-given no wave fun, all dressed up in a slashed party frock and ready to go; and to prove that was no flash in the weird pan Birthday Ass have now dropped the wonk of “Sunlit Toes”, which you can hear below. Bring the shambling skronk.
Priya Carlberg’s vocal talents are on full display, winding in with a jagged lead riff reminiscent of Bogshed and other greats of the John Peel era; horns squawk and rollick; the song buckles and fractures like old plasticine.
It’s about feeling trapped in a spinning globe, the anxiety that comes with feeling like you’re standing still while the rest of the world churns. Sometimes you have to move at the world’s pace to stay alive; sometimes you have to just say ‘screw it’ and sit down and enjoy the feeling of the sun on your toes. And at other times all you can do to cope is scream.
The head of the household sets the standards, makes the rules, and can break them as they see fit. Priya Carlberg, vocalist, composer, and maestro leads Birthday Ass as she sees fit, through a complex and capricious musical vision.
She formed the band with her friends from the New England Conservatory, all schooled and skilled up in jazz and improvisation. Like Captain Beefheart, Priya composes every moving part of their complex songs.
Let’s introduce the rest of the group: we’ve got Alex Quinn on trumpet, Raef Sengupta on saxophone, Andres Abenante on guitar, Dan Raney on bass, and Jonathan Starks on drums.
Head Of The Household, the album, promises ten tracks of gloriously, precisely messy no-wave abandon; and with a track in the offing entitled “Plubbage Blubbage”, how can it be wrong?
Birthday Ass’s Head Of The Household will be released by Ramp Local on April 23rd, digitally and on trad black and limited purple vinyl. Snare yourself a copy over at Bandcamp, here.
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