Bird Radio (Mikey Kirkpatrick) is originally from Hereford, is a graduate in music from Goldsmiths College in London and has his own production company (Avacado Music) which has produced over 30 recording projects.

The world needs more artists like Bird Radio who are not afraid to stand apart from the mainstream musical dross with which we are bombarded on a daily basis. Bird Radio eschews the X Factor-radio-friendly format and very much walks his own path. Indeed, he is a one man band armed with a suit case that takes the role of kick drum, a flute which he loops in on itself along with other instruments and an interestingly quirky vocal delivery that lies somewhere between medieval troubadour and a wicked Daevid Allen. He sets his stall out from the very start of the album as being that little different from the norm – and that’s a good thing!

Where the hell do you pigeonhole “The Boy and The Audience”  (out on Strike Force Records) then? – I for sure have absolutely no idea what-so-ever! The opening title track is simple affair of voice, tambourine and a single beat of a drum which could come from a few centuries ago… and so could a lot more of the album – there is a nod to the past with “Who Killed Cock Robin”.

At first listen lyrically you’d be forgiven that this was an album of folk music from the middle ages, but the content is very much of today and idiosyncratic in its nature– “Imagine what goes through the mind of an owl and write it in a letter to the one you love”.

“Devil at the Door” is loops of a simple distorted guitar lick and a reverberating beating drum and it casts a dark and eerie musical shadow on proceedings. It’s menacing and a bit White Stripes…ish…in a sort of it’s not like White Stripes at all style.

“Black Car” is the most “upbeat” of the tracks on the album and swings from simple looped claps and flute to full on distorted guitar and bellowed vocal delivery – heady stuff and more than a little disturbing!

There are snatches of Jethro Tull here and there – there’s bound to be as he was inspired to take up the flute by the music of Jethro Tull and their leader Ian Anderson – but all in all Bird Radio can be said to be pretty much unique in both content and delivery – it’s not electronica, it’s not folk and it’s not indie – loopfolk perhaps?

“Aeolian Flute” loops and twists in ever increasing circles around a simple and repetitive theme and defies categorisation. And this essentially sums up Bird Radio and “The Boy in the Audience” – you just can’t put your finger on its style, but like Monty Python it could only come from the mind of an Englishman. The final track “Time to Go” (featuring Othon) begins with a simple and beautiful piano theme with voice and builds and builds and is a great musical moment on the record.

If you like your music to be thought provoking and unconventional then you’ll love this album.

Bird Radio is like a demented Pied Piper cum Cat Weasel character for the Ableton Live generation – fail to listen at your peril!

Stu

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