With the album I’ll Never Sleep Again, Bay Area band Birds and Batteries incorporate elements of experimental electronica, raucous heaviness and classic country twang.
The album opens with a cover of Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold.” Singer Mike Sempert’s treatment of the tune is slow and dreamy, seeming to float along on a faraway cloud. The song transitions directly into the instrumental piece “Jungles (Oceans).”
Though much of the album meanders along at a drowsy pace, a few tracks stand out in terms of keeping the energy up. “Ocarina” and “After a Flood” are both pretty groovy that way.
“Star Clusters” feels otherworldly, in terms of both music and lyrics. Automated drumbeats and methodical electronic weavings propel the song forward. The weighty electronic layers and melodic current are reminiscent of Depeche Mode’s dark and heavy style. The lyrics combine scientific tidbits with human reaction to such giant, abstract concepts:
“Out there in the open/ Where the big things happen slowly/ I can feel it coming towards me/ I’m like a skater in a crack the whip.” I like the way the lyrics juxtapose enormous celestial bodies and us, tiny and insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Another fast-paced offering is “Turnstyles,” with its pleasantly poppy flow and upbeat trombone accompaniment. The lyrics seem innocuous enough until you start thinking that maybe there’s some cryptic message involved, only because Birds and Batteries seems like a group of folks who would find it especially humorous to embed cynical commentary in such a sunny bundle:
“I’m finding out every time, that I shine a brand-new dime/Or when I go through the turnstiles and the tokens cycle back again …” It seems tongue-in-cheek, though I can’t put my finger on why. Then there’s the title of the song, a play on the word “turnstiles.”
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