Bowerbirds

The Bowerbirds occupy an unusual space bridging the experimental folk scene associated with Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom and the brighter, more accessible pop approach of Lavender Diamond. Although their configuration and choice of instruments display deliberate eccentricity, the music conveys an authentic optimism that feels unusually straightforward. The group traces its origins to Ticonderoga, a Raleigh, North Carolina indie-rock trio fronted by singer and guitarist Phil Moore. While the band was completing its second album, the 2005 release titled The Heilig Levine LP, Moore accepted a position monitoring avian populations for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The assignment required him to reside in an isolated cabin deep within the Carolina forests. His partner, visual artist Beth Tacular (née Beth Salmon), accompanied him and continued her painting practice; during the evenings Moore composed material shaped by the couple’s secluded, woodland environment. After Ticonderoga disbanded while touring behind that second album, Moore and Tacular formed the Bowerbirds. Tacular learned to play the accordion on her own and obtained a bass drum modeled on marching-band instruments to supply basic rhythm. As this minimal duo they issued the six-track EP Danger at Sea in 2006. They then enlisted producer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Paulson to expand their arrangements and delivered their first full-length album, Hymns for a Dark Horse, on the fledgling Burly Time Records imprint in 2007. Their second album, Upper Air, appeared in 2009, with Clearing following in 2012.