Strange Bird

In 2002, the band Augie March set up camp in a disused telephone company building in Preston, outer Melbourne, to write the album that would become Strange Bird. By the time they hit the studio they had a swag of tunes. The results cover a lot of sonic terrain, veering from the sweet, building harmony of "The Vineyard," through the Wild West gallop of "This Train," the heavy "Song in the Key of Chance" and muted melancholy of "O Mi Sol Mi Lon" to the plaintive balladry of "The Night Is a Blackbird," and that's all in the first twenty minutes. All Music Guide said, "The cruel irony of making a brilliant record is that the whole world will never hear it. The sheer improbability of aligning the stars and blasting a hole in pop culture for the work to reside is the kind of romantic notion that has launched a million bands. Australia's Augie March may be a tiny blip on the global radar, but that could all change if this second release, the mesmerizing Strange Bird, gets into the right hands. Fourteen tracks of pastoral beauty, labyrinthine arrangements, and breathtaking prose render the listener unable to take it all in one listen."