It’s not surprising to learn that Kaley Bird’s self-titled CD is her first attempt at recording an album. Bird’s awesome lyrics and brilliant guitar licks are lost in the mediocre recording quality and loose beats. The very first note of the piece was out of tune, which really set a bad tone for the rest of what would’ve been a really good song.
The instrumentation doesn’t help what Bird’s lyrics are trying to get across. The song “Do, Do, Do, Do, Do, Do, Do,” besides from having a really unfortunate title, has a banjo that really doesn’t seem to work with the song in a lot of places where it sounds too tinny compared to the rest of her ideas on the disc. The mixture of a distorted guitar and a banjo (again) on “Morning Side” creates a weird effect that would be easily remedied with different instruments. One redeeming touch is the guitar riff at the beginning of “Something Better,” which sets up an awesome groove for the rest of the song.
Bird’s CD may not have that quality that will make her a household name right away, but the raw sound of her voice and the ideas that she’s putting forth are to be admired. If she can part with her random mallet instruments and get a solid band behind her, everyone will see that Bird produces music that is quirky, smart and full of musical goodies. If she keeps on producing albums and getting her name out there, then this will not be the last that people hear from Kaley Bird.