British Birds - In Search Of Mr Rykyn (2024) Hi-Res

The debut album from British Birds drips in a DIY psych sound and is a beautiful trip to mark the start of their journey.

On their debut album, Chorley band British Birds set themselves firmly in the sounds of wistful acoustic psych combined with pure pop beats. They immediately recall bands like Midlake as the opening song Crazy Life skips along through the verses. But don’t be fooled into thinking that this is nothing more than the plinking and twinkling of tweeness. That’s an impression that they dispel as soon as the song hits the chorus, the band coming in together to ramp up the drive. From the off, they show the two different sides that come together throughout the album’s thirteen tracks.

Songs like Blackfly effectively straddle that same vein as bands like Pavement in the woozy lo-fi delivery and Graham Coxon when he’s reveling in his acoustic melodies, but the band have done exceptionally well in pulling together many influences into a whole. The House That Stupidity Built is a great, rockier affair that comes somewhere from a plain between Roxy Music and Franz Ferdinand, contrasting wonderfully the more plaintive songs, which themselves are gems. Among them, Curious Eyes is a standout. A simple acoustic guitar and voice show their alt-folk side, slowly complemented by more arrangements that seep in.

The band bring it all together again on the (almost) title track Mr Rykyn, fading out at the end over a reversed track and spoken word, tying them to the same vibe as such classic albums as Odgens’ Nut Gone Flake. It would have made for a great album closer, but from there they shift gears, bringing in the pure late 60s psych pop with the Beatles-esque Magic, followed by the lazing and loping Butterfly Net. When they sign off with Sparks they hit a psych groove as infectious as any other that has trodden and may tread the path. It’s rare for a brand new band to lead you so adeptly through a journey and then sign off with one of the album highlights, but British Birds do just that.

For all the twitchers out there, these are definitely birds to keep an eye on. What an opening statement of psych joy they have produced on their debut album.