The Wooden Birds – Magnolia

Have you ever listened to an Andrew Kenny album? If you have, and enjoyed it, this record is probably for you. If you haven’t, this is for you too - while not representing any great change in Kenny’s sound, The Wooden Birds is him at his most raw and bare, offering a wonderful introduction to anyone looking to get into one of America’s hidden talents.Kenny’s greatest strength has always been his main weakness - consistency that all too often verges on complacency. It’s difficult to tell whether it’s a lack of invention on his part, or a stroke of genius to simply keep doing what he’s so bloody good at, but it’s a consistency that in many ways may have kept him down. While contemporary Ben Gibbard has become one of the biggest names in indie, through an increasingly “accessible” series of albums, an electro-pop side-project and endorsements from all kinds of celebrity fans, Kenny remains relatively unknown, his greatest moment in the spotlight coming from a split E.P. he did for the Home series with Gibbard way back in 2004. A track from that set, ‘Hometown Fantasy’, finds its way onto Magnolia, and though in slightly different form, it essentially highlights that this is Kenny’s solo album, something he needed, for whatever reasons, to keep separate from his American Analog Set work. Sonically this falls closest to the hushed tones of that Home E.P., though it’s mainly the sparse production and lack of supporting cast that separates it from AmAnSet than any major lyrical or musical change of direction.The biggest problem Kenny’s musical conservatism poses for me is that I just can’t find much to say about him. Like I said at the start, if you’ve liked him in the past, you’ll almost certainly enjoy this, and if you’ve never heard him before, this is a fantastic place to start. It’s full of everything that’s got him to where he is, only... quieter. And while it doesn’t sound like it, that is definitely a ringing endorsement. 78%The Wooden Birds on Mypsace