Thunder Bridge by Birdie Busch

Thunder Bridge marks Birdie Busch’s 5th full length release. The title is a nod to a line from one of her favorite Sun Ra poems, “We Must Not Say No to Ourselves”. Recorded in Germantown, the same neighborhood in Philadelphia that Sun Ra spent a lot of his musical journey, Thunder Bridge is an album i by kindreds for kindreds. The original plan was to make songs for fellow friend and Philly visual artist Alison Dilworth at the oncoming dawn of motherhood. It was meant to help cross a threshold between here and there while also keeping a sense of the everywhere and always intact. But this isn’t a “lullaby” record, although Birdie’s spirit and intention can often infuse things with a sense of a night’s closing mantra. And this isn’t a “kid’s music” record, although children can often be found singing a line from her songs, in the kind of way that children always seem to be tapped into genuine truth telling. In the end, this record became an album for not only a single friend, but for many in Birdie’s inner fold who had needed cathartic release and a gathering round of the wagons.

Thunder Bridge was recorded with her close-knit band, featured on her last effort Birdie Busch and the Greatest Night and added to the mix Jaron Olevsky (Amos Lee) as a collaborator in both playing and production. The result is an 8-song affair that marries Birdie’s inclination for melodic and sonic meandering with conciseness of form and feeling-distillation. The record features 3-string busted cellos, vintage drum machines, and a rainbow-keyed Gibson organ whose distinct tones create a very particular soundscape for the body of work. A record of brevity, much like classics were in the golden age of vinyl, you can find yourself listening to this several times over fairly quickly. The many listens feel non-repetitive, more like a cyclical exercise in re-centering yourself.

Coming out of what could be called a veritable renaissance that has put Philadelphia back at the top of the list of America’s music capitals, Birdie Busch joins other talented locals and partners in crime that seeks to make great music, inspire people, and see what happens.

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