We Will Become Like Birds

When Virginia-born, Boston-based singer/songwriter Erin McKeown first appeared, her ethnomusicology degree from Brown got a lot of play in her press releases, and she was lumped in, uneasily, with various other new {folk} folks. Her contributions to the 2001 project Voices on the Verge (think of a younger, hipper, and less corny 4 Bitchin' Babes) didn't mesh with those of bandmates Jess Klein, Beth Amsel, and Rose Polenzani very well, largely due to the fact that even early in her career, she was never a folkie in the traditional sense, yet her style was never confrontational enough to put her in with the Moldy Peaches wing of the New York {anti-folk} cadre. McKeown has since pulled further and further away from the folk (and even {folk-rock}) ghetto, and We Will Become Like Birds is a full-fledged, richly textured pop record in the tradition of Aimee Mann or Sam Phillips. Soothing acoustic and jangly electric guitars support McKeown's appealingly low-key vocals, with occasional touches like the electric piano underpinning Delicate December adding sonic variety. The songs are a varied and melodically sturdy lot that never settle for mere prettiness, with the hard-fought optimism of Air and the more downbeat moodiness of Float marking the album's emotional poles. The mixed emotions and soaring chorus of the Michael Penn-like closer, You Were Right About Everything, make it the album's highlight, but the entirety of We Will Become Like Birds is excellent; less bound by genre restrictions than ever before, McKeown has taken the opportunity to soar. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide