Full Review: Deas Vail – Birds & Cages
Deas Vail is one of the few bands who can take pop/rock music and force the listener to apply “beautiful” to it as an adjective. High pitched vocal melodies and musical ones of the same caliber dance around, each with the hopes of outdoing the other. Despite the elegance which flows freely throughout ‘Birds & Cages’, accessibility is not sacrificed and after the first time with the songs they begin to show their vulnerability.
This album is an extension of the bands first record, but a more complete attempt at the melodic rock. Starting the journey off “The Things You Were” rests on its solid chorus, “You’ve taken me by surprise and given me new life“, and foreshadows the album’s theme of new life and the process of a story being told. “Excuses” seems to posses the most accessible hooks on the first listen by having one of the biggest dynamic differences between the verses and chorus.
“Tell me, can you tell me, the page will turn itself and take us somewhere else” interludes into “Dance In Perfect Time”, a song that could have come off Mae’s album, ‘The Everglow’. “The Leaper” comes on the tail end of the record, but stands out as one of its strongest tracks. Both lyrically and musically the song has such a cinematic montage feel to it, you can almost see the accompanying visuals in your mind. Sweeping music gently soothes the images of being able to stand on the edge [metaphorically] and trust that things will be okay when you fall into something bigger than yourself.
Each song aims to outdo the previous one with most succeeding, but none failing. A beautiful album, in every sense, Deas Vail has put together a collections of songs which proves they are ready to take the next step. The story concludes with the band waiting to be found, “Atlantis” being a fitting end for this chapter at this place in time.
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Tags: birds & cages, deas vail
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Not a bad album just no real stand out tracks. I think I was expecting a little too much which I often do when it comes to something I’ve never heard before. I can definitely see why they are touring with Mae though, very similar styles.
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:43 pm
@Josh, just give it a few more listens. More songs begin to stand out
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:24 am
atlantis is a stand out…
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:32 am
How did people get this album already? “Atlantis” was absolutely breath-taking live. the recorded version doesn’t really capture it… Still good though. “The Things You Were” does a good job capturing their live sound though.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Now that I’ve listened to this album all the way through, I can more fully appreciate your review. It’s a good one! You’ve done a good job trying to capture the beauty of the music, but I honestly think this is one of the best albums I’ve heard in the past few years.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Thanks
October 29th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
@Josh, I know exactly what you are talking about. The first time I listened to the album, I really liked it, but all the songs sort of squished together into one big soup (except for Excuses, which I already loved, and Atlantis which immediately moved me to tears). But the second listen through, they al became more distinguished above the others; not quite as distinct as all the tracks in Anberlin’s Cities, but they were up there. One thign I lvoe about this album is that it doesn’t have a single title track. Nearly all the songs carry the same theme and story, yet they all stand out. I can’t think of a single song from this album which I don’t dislike, and very few which I like less than the others. Based on the proportions of songs I love to songs that I only really like, I’d have to give this album a 95%.
Songs to buy: All of them
Excuses
Cages (free)
Birds (my second favorite)
Atlantis
Great Physician
November 18th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
I just realized what this album sounds like. Augustana. It’s been on the tip of my brain for like 3 weeks now.