I first saw Electric Owls perform back in July when they were supporting The Wallflowers at a gig in New York City, but I didn’t get excited about them until almost a month later, when I put their music onto my iPod and spent the first three songs of their new CD, “Ain’t Too Bright”, wishing they came from South Africa so that I could claim them as one of my own. Alas, Andy Herod, the band’s founder and only living member (since we decided not to count the band’s namesake – an electric owl that sits on stage when Andy plays), hails from the hippie haven of Asheville, North Carolina.
We may first have been enraptured because Andy came on stage with just him, his low-glowing electric owl, and his mac computer on a chair next to him to say things to the audience like “I flew in from North Carolina today, and boy, are my arms tired…” But soon, the music took over and we fell in love with the music that sounded like the bastard child of The Shins and Polyphonic Spree.
Tracks like “Darken Me”, “Cannibal Superstar”, “Put, The Candle, Back!” and “Magic Show” (which is available on the Magic Show EP) all sound like they’d do as well on your iPod while you sit wuietly in the park on a fall day, as they would on stage at one of those huge indie fests like Reading or Coachella – it’s music for any day, anywhere and any time.
Andy says, “We are getting to do things on this record [Ain’t It Bright] that I might have been a little afraid to do in the past. We are going completely over the top with a few ideas and it’s been unbelievably satisfying and fun. Hopefully that is what people will experience when they listen to the end result too.” We definitely do. We love the good vibes the mellow music brings and will be listening to this CD all summer!
“Ain’t It Bright” is available on iTunes now! Go to Electric Owls’ Myspace page for more info.
ⓒ athousandguitars.com 2009
