Alongside the band Forestears, the producers Tom Peterson and Owen Crouch have recently launched a venture into the realm of experimental hip-hop, under the name Early Bird, and at the end of January they released a first album, Dictators, about evenly divided between instrumental and rap numbers, the latter featuring vocals by other artists whom they know; to judge by this initial offering, even if it’s still early days for them, these lads from Brighton should make a name for themselves with this project too.
The song “Dead Crimson” – a collaboration with a rapper called Bar Code – is a pæan to their own names, spinning out variations on them in an expense of boisterous virile bravado, which might suggest (the ominous sound of the title notwithstanding), if only one has ears for it, that life and its own special poetic vigour may yet burst forth from the English language in years to come, slogging through trite masses of cliché in the process.
It, and the other numbers on the album, have been loaded onto Early Bird’s Soundcloud page. (The band also has a Youtube channel, though as of now only audio recordings have been uploaded there.)
On the instrumental side (though often supplemented with vocal samplings) a prominent role has been accorded to the wind instruments, as one would expect from members and friends of Forestears; in this connection a number entitled “Bloodshed” stands out.
As does another, called “Little Dots”:
Where Early Bird will eventually land, it’s of course too soon to tell; but the sight and sound of the duo’s flight will be fun to follow.
Postscript. Its Soundcloud page appears to be defunct, but fortunately the tracks may be found on its Bandcamp page, and I have substituted those.