{"id":64461,"date":"2017-11-15T20:28:56","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T02:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=64461"},"modified":"2017-11-15T21:41:43","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T03:41:43","slug":"slaughter-beach-dog-birdie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2017\/11\/15\/slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/","title":{"rendered":"Slaughter Beach, Dog: Birdie"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"There\u2019s always certain expectations for established artists breaking off from their\u00a0main projects to try something new, and we\u2019ve seen side projects\u00a0arise from a number of different circumstances; things such as personal feuds, creative differences, or if a band just has nowhere else to go musically. None of these cases really fit the group known as Slaughter Beach, Dog, who started simply as a writing exercise for the co-front-man of Modern Baseball, Jake Ewald. Before writing songs for Modern Baseball\u2019s latest album, Holy Ghost<\/em>, Ewald found himself in a funk where the hyper-personal lyrics he was used to writing weren\u2019t coming as easy with the band constantly working and touring. \u201cI just got to the point where I couldn\u2019t muster anything interesting to write about, so I made up this fictional story. It ended up working pretty well; that\u2019s when I wrote the first Slaughter Beach, Dog album\u201d says Ewald in an interview with The Fader<\/em>. That album, Welcome<\/em>, released fall of 2016, showed a logical progression from the tones of angst and innocence found on previous works by Ewald. There was still an edge to the sound, and the writing was introspective as usual, just this time focused on a whole new cast of characters. Earlier this year, Ewald announced that Modern Baseball would be taking a break in order for the members to focus on mental health and other individual projects. Later on, with the help of band mate Ian Farmer, Slaughter Beach, Dog released the four song EP, Motorcycle.jpg, which showed off a much more sparse and laid back sound, and gave listeners an indication of just where the project was heading. Two weeks after Modern Baseball officially began their indefinite hiatus with three sold out shows at Philadelphia\u2019s Union Transfer, fans could find solace in Slaughter Beach, Dog\u2019s newest full length album: Birdie.<\/p>\n

The album, completely recorded by Ewald and completely mixed by Farmer, opens with a gentle acoustic ballad, \u201cPhoenix\u201d, which features a number soft, subtle sounds that surround Ewald\u2019s solemn, yet optimistic voice. The beauty of this song, like many throughout Birdie, is found in the details. Ewald\u2019s words always carry a unique weight and emotion, and the new, open soundscapes seem to draw a certain attention to them, and before you know it, you\u2019re vividly inside someone else\u2019s world. Ewald has said that the writing of Birdie draws a lot from past events and things he\u2019s never really written about. Even when the pace is a bit more upbeat, like in the following two tracks, \u201cGold and Green\u201d and \u201cPretty O.K.\u201d the narratives are filled with details specific enough to make seemingly mundane memories impressionable and meaningful. Whether it\u2019s a layered, jangly pop-rock song like \u201cFish Fry\u201d or something minimal and\u00a0intimate\u00a0 such as \u201cButtercup\u201d, a noticeable difference between the writing of Slaughter Beach, Dog songs compared to Modern Baseball songs is the themes are much less focused on internal feelings, and instead they try to understand the settings and situations of the past. Like on \u201cShapes I Know\u201d, Ewald explores the various moods and actions of a family around Christmas, and how everyone experiences the same thing in a very different way.<\/p>\n

This theme can be applied to the album as a whole as well. Each song tells a different story, and throughout the various minute details, Ewald is able to find a certain comfort and balance in his own experiences. We see this on the album\u2019s closer, \u201cAcolyte\u201d with the line \u201cMan it cuts like a dull knife when you\u2019re young and you’re told, \u2018makes sense when you\u2019re older…\u2019 Darling, let\u2019s get old.\u201d There\u2019s little urgency in Ewald\u2019s voice as he sings and whistles along with the simple guitar melody, but you can tell the words are coming from someone who believes in what they\u2019re saying. Birdie is a prime example of how sometimes, less is more, and with Ewald\u2019s storytelling and songwriting abilities, Slaughter Beach, Dog is sure make an impression on whoever gives this album a listen.<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s always certain expectations for established artists breaking off from their\u00a0main projects to try something new, and we\u2019ve seen side projects\u00a0arise from a number of different circumstances; things such as personal feuds, creative differences, or if a band just has nowhere else to go musically. None of these cases really fit the group known as Slaughter Beach, Dog, who started simply as a writing exercise for the co-front-man of Modern Baseball, Jake Ewald. Before writing songs for Modern Baseball\u2019s latest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20855,"featured_media":64465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3235],"tags":[7901,7900],"class_list":["post-64461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-reviews","tag-birdie","tag-slaughter-beach-dog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/sbd-birdie.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20855"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}