Bluebird

Falling Back To Earth (2004)

Brian Shultz

Bluebird's five-song single/EP, Falling Back To Earth, is the spawn of their last full-length, taking the lead track from Hot Blood, released last year on Dim Mak, as well as a handful of B-sides/outtakes/etc. for the completist in your life.

The band's sound is a basic containment of 90s rock coupled with a snapshot of more classic influences with bites from grunge-induced garage. Although "Falling Back To Earth" definitely starts off with an immediate Stone Temple Pilots-esque swagger, the later tracks hint at what the press release boasts is the band's throwback sound to bands like The Stooges and MC5. Sure, there's a cocaine-peppered, liquor-laced layering in the sort-of-I-guess-Iggy-Pop-ish vocal style at times, but it doesn't really go too far beyond that. The rabid, snarling yell though is what really carries a song like "F.U. Pay Me" - the line of "Hey, hey! We're gonna make those motherfuckers pay!" would be slightly more convincing with a more chaotic level underlining it, but Sam James's throaty threat is still rather convincing in itself.

I could say this band mixes it up well, but the only truth to that statement is hiding behind the fact that these are B-sides. It's really hard to get a determination of a band's sound whose example given to me is tracks they didn't even really settle on including on an official album, but hopefully the above has given you a good idea.