Night Birds – Fresh Kills Vol. 1

Don’t let the compilation status of Night Birds’ first formal compact disc, Fresh Kills Vol. 1, fool you, these fifteen songs were destined to reside under a shared roof.  Consolidating the New York and New Jersey four-piece’s first two years, the band tosses in all their odds and ends – even the initial 2009 demo that started it all.  If you’re like me and aren’t knowledgeable to Night Birds’ previous activities, then you’re about to get very thankful.

Combining elements of snotty pop-punk, garage grit, a light peppering of 80’s hardcore, and a tight dose of surf rock, Night Birds sound as if The River Boat Gamblers and Dead To Me had grown up playing the same dives as Dead Kennedys and Agent Orange.  The whole band takes up a catty attitude, pulling off tongue-in-cheek humour and infectiously simple hooks.  Production quality finds a middle ground between the two, but there’s a certain dirty retro feel that only serves to enhance what comes next.

Fresh Kills hosts fifteen tracks in just over twenty-six minutes, and Night Birds make good on cramming every moment with an unrelenting home-grown vigor.  Without taking itself too seriously, opener “Killer Waves” sounds every bit as pressing as it’s description of mother nature “plotting revenge” on a negligent and deserving populous.  Guitarist Mike Hunchback plugs away quickly, swinging from hook to hook against a vocal arc that tames Brian Gorsegner’s pointed jabs.  From here the group seldom looks away from their vivacious aspirations – whether it be on punchy forty-nine second blaster, “No Way Home,” insanely catchy standouts “Midnight Movies” and “Bad Biology,” or shouty rhythmic demo tracks like “Paranoid Times.”

The couple wholly instrumental surf tracks round out the Night Birds musical repertoire entirely uniquely, proving that in the right context, surf rock can offer more than a backdrop to Hawaiian novelty videos.  At that, neither of the two feature instrumentals treads on one another’s territory.  “Harbor Rats” lays claim to the album’s most casual and distorted guitar work (think neo-rockabilly), and “Squad Car” could very well be the token fast track on a Los Tiki Phantoms disc.  Surf marks the young group’s best and most balanced decision, and I can’t wait to discover what the unlikely pairing turns out next.

While above all incredibly satisfying, Fresh Kills Vol. 1 is also quite a tease for newcomers.  That something compiling four separate recordings can sound so coherent is entirely unexpected, and raises the exciting question as to the possibilities of their upcoming full length, The Other Side Of Darkness.  With nothing but good to speak for Fresh Kills, Night Birds’ follow-up sits atop my most anticipated upcoming releases of 2011.