Bowerbirds: “Tuck the Darkness In”
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The bowerbird is a small, dark-colored bird endemic to the rainforests of New Guinea and Australia. Bowerbirds is a trio from North Carolina that craft delicate neo-folk and sunny pop songs.
The band formed after the break up of singer Phil Moore’s previous group Ticonderoga. Before the release of Ticonderoga’s second record, Moore took a job with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences tracking birds from a small cabin in the middle of the vast Appalachian wilderness. Joining him was his girlfriend Beth Tacular. Secluded in the middle of nowhere, the two started writing songs. After Ticonderoga broke up, Moore and Tacular focused on their own songs and Bowerbirds was born, releasing the six-song EP Danger at Sea in 2006. Initially a duo, multi-instrumentalist Mick Paulson joined the band for their 2007 full-length debut Hymns for a Dark Horse. Today’s song of the day “Tuck the Darkness In” is one of the tracks on the Bowerbirds’ forthcoming third LP The Clearing, due out March 6.
“Tuck the Darkness In” begins simply enough. Moore’s emotive vocals float over quiet acoustic instruments. But there’s a hint at something to come. Tacular starts to harmonize, and strings start to swell. As the drums pick up and the rhythm becomes more driving, what started as a breezy folk tune quickly becomes lush, complex orchestral pop. It’s cathartic, and it soars.
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