Track Listing

1. Lucky One
2. Sad Song
3. Fallen Snow [Age of Rockets Remix]
4. I Couldn't Sleep
5. Violent Yet Flammable World
6. Don't See the Sorrow
7. Dark Halls
8. Night Majestic
9. Stars
10. Lark
11. Way to There
12. Fallen Snow [Age of Rockets Remix]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #138233 in Music
• Released on: 2007-05-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Customer Reviews

I dream of togetherness
Au Revoir Simone make synthpop. Not the usual synthpop, but bewitching little pop tunes full of sun and woods.

And the Brooklyn pop band is in good form in their full-length debut "The Bird of Music," mingling peppy electropop and pretty little synthy ballads. It could use a few darker edges, but their shimmery music is a charming experience -- think Eisley on a lazy summer evening.

It opens with the sound of wind chimes, and a gentle piano melody. "A dream of togetherness/Turned into a brighter mess/A faint sign my spoken best," is murmured over the gentle ballad. "So I was the lucky one/Reading letters, not writing them/Taking pictures of anyone/I know..."

That tone totally changes with the next song -- a peppy synth pop tune that doesn't really live up to the title: "Play me a sad song because /That's what I want to hear/I want you to make me cry/I want to remember the places that we left/Lost to the mists of time."

With those two as an intro, the remaining songs pretty much straddle between them -- organ ballads, meandering fuzzy electropop, tightly-wound dance pop, languid little pop tunes, and a few that defy labels -- the ominously soaring "Violent Yet Flammable World," and the eerie finale "The Way To There."

Three young women playing lots of sparkly, shimmery synth... well, it doesn't sound like the stuff of great pop music. And even after their beautiful debut EP, I was a bit worried about whether their music would last the stretch over an entire full-length album.

Well, fortunately those worries were needless -- even though there's really only keyboard, they know how to mix it up. Their synth is bouncy, sparkly, languid, soft, shimmering, fuzzy, eerie, staticky, soaring, rippling and majestic -- they can do basically anything with it. It's laced with drum machines, and the occasional moment of violin.

The upbeat music is matched by the vocals -- all three contribute, and all their voices are sweet, pleasant and girlish. And their lyrics are pretty simple, but heartfelt -- lovers who've departed and loves that are dwindling ("to thaw the icy sentiment/of love that's gone when winter's spent").

But they include the occasional budding love song. I gotta say, I love "Stars" for this reason alone: "You wanna measure stars in the backyard with a calculator and a ruler, baby/I found a letter that describes how the moonlight will lead me to the distant place that you will be."

Au Revoir Simone made a lovely soundtrack for a dreamlike summer vacation -- shimmery little pop tunes, full of love past and future. It might not blow your mind, but it will lull it into a lovely waking dream.

beauty and shadow
This is not just a great album, it's a classic. I bought it in HMV because I thought the cover and song titles looked 'mysterious'. And three young women from Arizona playing keyboards and singing? Didn't know what to expect.
The songs are lovingly crafted; the music and vocals beautiful; the whole album something very special. I bought their first album soon afterwards - and it is just as good. Just sweeps you away.
They must have a cult following I'm sure - but they deserve huge success.

Good, but not great
It's fair to say that on paper that Au Revoir Simone are a set-up that is tailor made to my specifications; three not-unattractive women with their keyboards out peddling a line in synth-pop with little nuances of The Pipettes here and Metric there.

Well it's a little sad to say that the idea doesn't quite work in practise.

There are some great songs, no doubt. A Violent Yet Flammable World may well be THE highlight of the album; with a drum beat reminiscent of Bat For Lashes' What's A Girl To Do it drives along in a cavalcade of brooding and swirling synth strings to great effect. Sad Song is a simpler, but addictive, effort but it's almost impossible to resist. And Fallen Snow is quite brilliant too, although how much that has to do with my, impossible to explain here, long love of church organs is open to question.

It ticks all the right boxes, I have to say, but as a whole just lacks that little spark that would really set it apart from the chasing pack. Whereas We Are The Pipettes was transformed by a little personality, this one is treading water where that is concerned. I'd recommend it, but with a caveat not to expect TOO much from it.