Just Let Me Fangirl: Active Bird Community
The last couple weeks I have nonstop been listening to a band called Active Bird Community. Here is a little background on ABC and a dive into some of their music. (I recommend listening to the album, “Amends”, before/while you read my thoughts on ABC’s music. I’m also including a video of the 2017 Audiotree Music Festival where they played on of my favorite songs not on the “Amends” album called “QB Sneak”).
Active Bird Community is signed to Barsuk Records who has described their “sprightly slacker vibes” as “reminiscent of 90’s indie rock.” The Brooklyn-based band formed while guitarists Tom D’Agustino, Andrew Wolfson, and bassist Zach Slater were in middle school. Ten years later, they met their drummer Quinn McGovern and started recording their music.
Active Bird Community has 3 full length albums out right now. Their 2018 record called “Amends” is my personal favorite. I’m not even joking, right after listening to it for the first time, I immediately called my bandmate and said, “you’ve gotta listen to this album. I’m convinced it’s perfect.”
“Amends” has everything you could ask for while still being a cohesive work with each song fitting nicely into the next. Slower moments in the songs “Unwind With Me”, “Blame”, and “Downstairs” contrast the punky high energy in “Sweaty Lake” and “Virginia” while maintaining the Active Bird Community sound and the listener’s attention.
ABC uses dynamics. “Downstairs” starts out small and builds to this huge moment with the lines If I could show you, then I would show you before mellowing out again at the very end. Horns start the song “Baby It’s You” by playing the main melodic guitar riff which is then repeated throughout the song to get you singing along on your first listen. ABC lead singer, D’Agustino, sings with a convincing desperation in his voice the lines I don’t need your advice / I’m unraveling everything in the song “Unwind With Me.”
D’Agustino spoke on the meaning behind the 2018 record, “In the simplest of terms, Amends is a record about forgiveness… You can blame other people for how you feel, or you can take some responsibility for your feelings and try to make a change, and that first step is making amends.”
(While doing research for this, I had a hard time finding a lot about ABC. They don’t have a Wikipedia page and they don’t have an instagram. I then found out that they are broken up. Or at least not making music anymore. I am devastated, but I should have known. Be gentle with me while I mourn.)
