Review
When Kurt Travis got unceremoniously dumped from Dance Gavin Dance for the return of former vocalist Johnny Craig I was definitely upset. Had I known that this album would come as a result of that event, I would instead be delighted at Travis' departure from DGD. While DGD stands as my all-time favorite post-hardcore band (although A Lot Like Birds is in a position to threaten that title), Kurt Travis far transcends anything he could have done with DGD in his debut with A Lot Like Bird's in their sophomore album Conversation Piece.
A question that really begs to be asked is what genre does A Lot Like Birds fall into? While they bill themselves strictly as a progressive band, upon a full listen-through of Conversation Piece they prove to be far more than that. In fact, Conversation Piece more or less represents three different genres: progressive, experimental, post-hardcore, and indie (yes indie). It's incredible how smoothly and easily the band makes the transition from genre to genre from song to song. As as example, while Properties of Fiction would strongly be considered post-hardcore with a fantastic interchange of Travis' singing and the screaming of Cory Lockwood, the next song, Truly Random Code, with it's guitar noodling and it's atmospheric electronics is, despite the presence of screams, essentially what I would strongly consider to be indie. Post-hardcore and indie being among my all-time favorite genres, this fusion is nothing short of bliss. Adding Kurt Travis and his top-notch clean vocals into the mix just takes the album to another level altogether.
Instrumentation certainly deserves discussion as well. As mentioned above, Conversation Piece proves to be a representation of various styles of music and with those differing styles come a vast range of instrumentation that is without a doubt impressive. From the chill guitar noodling of indie on Truly Random Code to the intricate and technical guitar-work of progressive and post-hardcore in tracks like Orange Time Machines Care and What Didn't Kill Me Just Got Stronger, A Lot Like Birds never fails to impress. Accompanying these varying guitar styles is the usage of various other musical elements to add to the experimentation, most notably tribal drums and electronics. It all comes together to create a musical package with an overall massive amount of variety, treating the listener to something different at each and every turn.
Verdict
After getting dumped from Dance Gavin Dance, Kurt Travis seems to have found a new home in A Lot Like Birds. With his addition came a complete style shift to something akin to a fusion of post-hardcore and indie, and it definitely proves to be among some of the best music I have ever heard. If you're into either genre (particularly post-hardcore) I strongly suggest that you look into this album.
Score
[5/5]
Top Picks
Truly Random Code, Vanity's Fair, Properties of Friction
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