Birth Glow
Mineral Waters

Coming out of the under-explored cultural hub of Adelaide, Birth Glow deftly combine three-part vocals with a lo-fi and brilliantly naïve approach to songwriting. Ellen Carey, formerly of Jemima Jemima, uses the minimal accompaniment that Birth Glow’s sparse instrumentation provides to explore her idiosyncratic vocal range, while Nic Walton (Sweet Raxx) and Steph Crase (No Through Road) encase her words in almost harmonies and musical half thoughts, presenting discordance and underwhelming lyricism as musical lucidity. Somehow the coalescing is nothing short of perfect imperfection.

And in many ways that’s what this band are about – the perfect imperfections that come with Beat Happening or Yo La Tengo are here fused seamlessly with the carefully considered folk in either its frail (Karen Dalton) or free (First Nation, Maher Shalal Hash Baz,) forms. Need proof? This EP – hand assembled for the group’s recent NZ tour with Batrider and now available via www.myspace.com/birthglow – comes with a hidden track, where Birth Glow covering Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ live. I didn’t recognize the insipid pop until my iTunes exposed the tracklisting, so entranced was I in the glow of Birth Glow. A band that can turn hell into heaven is surely a band worth your ears: this is lo-fi or die paradise.

by Eliza Sarlos