Birds of Passage - Winter Lady

by Andy Cassidy

published: 28 / 1 / 2012

Label: Denovali Records
Format: CD

Fragile and chilling second album from Birds of Passage, the project of musician Alica Merz, which captures the desolation of winter

Review

'Winter Lady' is Alicia Merz’s second album as Birds of Passage. Following on from her debut 'Without the World', the album is another exercise in glacial minimalism. The album opens with the gently creeping 'Fatal Melody', a piece very much in the style of múm or Sigur Ros. The atmosphere is incredibly affecting, and Merz’s vocal has a wind-like quality, gently breezing along on a formless but charming melody. As the track progresses, hints of Portishead and the more mellow works of Nancy Wilson ('Elevator Beat' from the 'Vanilla Sky' soundtrack comes immediately to mind) emerge without ever overpowering the fragility of the basic track. The album continues with the gorgeous 'Highwaymen in Midnight Masks', a dreamy, meandering piece with a sensual whispered vocal. This is the sound of intimacy, of quiet understatement and, ultimately, isolation. 'Away with the Night' continues in a similar vein, and incorporates field recordings reminiscent of Virginia Astley’s 'From Gardens Where We Feel Secure'. Again, Merz’s wonderfully breathy vocal is a thing of beauty, perfectly capturing the desolation of the northern winter. 'Winter Lady' has been described as “the sound of winter itself,” and it’s hard to argue with that summary. There is an almost tangible chill to the music, its haunting beauty at once majestic and terrifying. The formless melodies, the sparse instrumentation and the ubiquitous drone hold the album together and create a persistent mood of chill and vague menace. If I had one criticism to make, it would be that of the songs on the 'Winter Lady' are very similar. While this serves to create coherence between the pieces, it could be argued that it shows little innovation. That said, the overall atmosphere is served well by this consistency of mood. The fact is that the entire album is thematically linked by the winter motif, and this would not be so readily recognisable if the tracks were massively different. Overall, I found Winter Lady very enjoyable. It is an album that, when the mood and the weather is right, I will happily listen to again. The album has certainly benefited from the success of Sigur Ros, but, rather than merely copying their act, Merz has taken the essence of their work and translated it into something quieter, colder and more beautiful.