The Daybirds
Turnstyle
EGG Publishing
In the liner notes for the Daybirds CD, they thank Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney, and David Bowie “for being all around bad-asses.” That should give you a pretty good idea of where this four-piece power pop band from Liberty, Missouri is coming from. That and the fact that two of the band members play ukulele.
The Daybirds write mini-pop symphonies with lots of carefully arranged overlapping vocals, shifting tempos and styles, and counter melodies. If you don’t like part of one song, stick around, because it’s likely to seamlessly change into something different a couple of minutes later. The opening “All We Need is Time” is a horn laden number that cops from the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper era. “Will You Take Me With You” recalls the assimilation techniques of bands like Jellyfish, and has a pretty nice whistling solo. The piano-driven “Smile and Shine” perhaps appropriately sounds like Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys. “Turn Me In” sounds like Badfinger with an early-Bowie chorus.
Throughout, it’s clear these guys really love music. As the band puts it on the catchy “She Ran Away”: “All I really loved is when the C goes to the B-flat to the A and down a half step. Well I gather with my friends and sing a song. I write it down and here it is and there it goes.”
The Daybirds; http:://www.daybirds.com
