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Average: 4.0 (8 ratings)
- Date Released: September 25, 2007
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Label: Bar/None Records
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We Say...
Philadelphia singer-songwriter Birdie Busch loves her city. But she doesn't love the city. On her second album, she details the story of "The Huff Singers (North Philly)," a gospel singing group she met while waitressing their brunch. The song is as close to gospel as Busch gets on this indie-goes-country album; over the course of Penny Arcade, you're more apt to hear Busch preferring the "Tombstone Store," doing the "Heel to Toe" and singing about a "Wild Mountain Honey." (The latter is an excellent cover of the Steve Miller classic.) See, Busch takes after Jenny Lewis and Gillian Welch, using the lonesome sounds of the acoustic to relate her (mostly) downbeat tales. She may love her city, but you get the feeling she'd rather be on a porch somewhere looking out over a huge open space. Heck, wouldn't we all?
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They Say...
What's initially striking about Birdie Busch's endearing follow-up to The Ways We Try isn't her innocent voice, intimate songwriting, or lyrics that evoke a simple, more rustic way of life. It's her album art. Like the work of obscure folk artist James Hampton (who used scavenged materials to assemble a religious monument in his garage), Penny Arcade's cover features a wooden shadow box decorated with symmetrical stacks of pennies, plucked dandelions, gold foil wrappers, and cardboard religious paraphernalia. Take the shadow box apart, and you're left with nothing but pocket change, firewood, and trash. Piece it together, however, and the everyday objects fuse into something that's whimsical and unassuming, yet nonetheless engaging. Birdie Busch's sophomore offering of pop-laced Americana follows suit; while her voice doesn't resonate with the haunting beauty of Neko Case or strike the same nostalgic chord as Gillian Welch, its earnest delivery makes it one of the most affecting altos around. The Philly resident culls her songs from a place far less populated, where the highways and cheesesteaks of her native town are replaced by rivers, ridges, and tree-borne fruit. It's an interesting approach -- embracing the countryside from a metropolitan stance -- and Busch blocks out her urban surroundings with simple folk melodies, a minimalist country-leaning band, and her slight farmland drawl. The songs aren't necessarily lush, but there's still a lot to mine here, whether the listener is sifting though the pastoral psychedelic strains of "Wild Mountain Honey" (a swampy, banjo-led cover of the Steve Miller original) or nodding to the quirky lullabying lilt of "Clemency." "My heart, well, it's worn on the outside," Busch sings during the upbeat "Hold Ya." "And if I see something good, I'm gonna show ya; and if I hear something sweet, I'm gonna tell ya." That's a raison d'être shared by the world's best singer/songwriters, and Penny Arcade sets Busch down the right path to join their ranks.
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You Say...
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| 01. |  |
Rabbit's Foot |
3:09 |  |
| 02. | |
Water |
2:48 | |
| 03. | |
Go Go Gadget Heart |
2:51 | |
| 04. | |
Clemency |
2:42 | |
| 05. | |
Hold Ya |
2:11 | |
| 06. | |
Mystical |
2:34 | |
| 07. | |
Wild Mountain Honey |
3:59 | |
| 08. | |
Bender |
3:21 | |
| 09. | |
Huff Singers (North Philly) |
3:27 | |
| 10. | |
Sweet Somethings |
2:20 | |
| 11. | |
Back Catalogue |
4:12 | |
| 12. | |
Heel To Toe |
2:39 | |
| 13. | |
Tombstone Store |
2:48 | |
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Credits
- Mike Fleming - Vocals (Background) // Jerry Klause - ? // Devin Greenwood - Producer // Devin Greenwood - Mixing // Devin Greenwood - Group Member // Paul Sinclair - Mastering // Birdie Busch - Vocals // Birdie Busch - Group Member // Paul Hammond - Mastering
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