Boston indie rock quintet soundtracks the carefree season with new EP streaming Friday, June 7 ahead of its vinyl release

MEDIA PREVIEW: Listen to ‘Chasing Echos’ on Soundcloud [private link]

Lead singles ‘Slow Shove’ and ‘Heartbreak Summertime’ are now streaming

BOSTON, MA [June 7, 2024] -- Those who stare long enough into an image will often end up seeing themselves reflected back. It’s a philosophical idea fueled by a notion that our perceptions of the world are not built upon passive experiences, but how a reciprocated exchange from what we see creates active engagements that helps shape our perceptions about ourselves, our past, and the world around us. It could trace back a memory, or a feeling, or a hazy sensation that suddenly re-emerges in vivid color and detail – regardless of whether we have a personal connection to the image at all.

A look into the cover art for Bird Language’s forthcoming EP Chasing Echos, depicting a person swinging carefree into a New Hampshire lake on a perfect summer day, a moment captured and frozen in time, plays into this idea. And as we connect the image to our own lives, it also acts as a portal into the music contained within.

Set for streaming release on Friday June 7 with a vinyl issue to shortly follow, Chasing Echos finds the Boston indie rock quintet in a summer state of mind, extending a personal invitation for human connection that pierces through layers of guitars, bass and drums. Across the record’s four soulful tracks, Bird Language explores themes of friendship, love, and longing against the warm backdrop of the casual season, crafting an engaging soundtrack to life’s better days.

Still intact are the panoramic snapshots of modern life, as captured in the band’s 2022 debut album 625 Days, but on this EP, a chemistry amongst its members flourishes as the summer setting in the artwork, an Andrew Houle oil painting inspired by a photograph taken by bassist Pat Piasecki, allows the music to bloom in vivid detail.

“Chasing Echos is about the nostalgia of warm summer nights, swimming with friends under starry skies,” says guitarist Andrew Doherty. “The good stuff we all miss when we are in traffic on I-93 South or sitting on the T en route to our day jobs.”

Stare at the EP artwork long enough, and Bird Language’s sound takes on new meaning. And its title rings out as a connection to our lives, from the present day to the memories of yesterday we hold so dear.

“The image has a sense of carefree summer days of the past,” says vocalist and keyboardist Jeff “Chip” Nicolai. “For me Chasing Echos is about thinking back fondly on those memories, but as time goes by they become faded like an echo. There is a bit of nostalgia throughout the songs, which I think also relates to the cover art. The songs’ themes center around connections from the past and experiences with old friends.”

Recorded by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios and mastered by Will Benoit at The Radar Studio, Chasing Echos is comprised of four tracks: Last year’s yearning lead single “Heartbreak Summertime,” which landed on Boston Emissions’ short list for Song of the Year; punchy new single and alt-country-ish opening track “Slow Shove,” which hits the streams ahead of the band’s show last month at Sonia in Cambridge; the expansive and layered “Perdido”; and a gripping instrumental ripper called “Full Voltron” that pays homage to early Smashing Pumpkins (the band often performs classic Pumpkins’ track “Rocket” in their live sets).

“We've been holding onto these songs since 2022 and it's sort of a level up in terms of our intentionality and songwriting; leaving room for vocals, and allowing ourselves to get a little quieter and a little louder at the same time,” says guitarist Neil Simmons. “So it's a bit cathartic to get it out there. Trying to write songs, not just for the sake of putting some sounds out there, but leaving room for vocal melodies.”

Since the release of 625 Days exactly 749 days ago – coincidentally, it’s been roughly 580 days, give or take, since the band finished recording these new songs – Bird Language have enlisted a new drummer in Boston music scene champion Dave Norton (Victory at Sea, Ruin The Nite), who brings a new tenacity to these chilled-out jams, each its own vibe and each tough to box into labels.

“The new songs are uniquely original that I think are hard to label in one specific genre,” Nicolai says. “We have been playing around more with different vocal parts and harmonies and incorporating those into the live shows as well. Now with Dave in the band we are able to experiment further with vocal parts.”

Doherty admits that the Bird Language sonic palette is expanding with each new track, building off the debut album’s vibe of ‘70 AM pop-rock and smoothed-out soul. And that promise shines through across the panoramic 14 minutes of music contained within Chasing Echos.

The magnetic “Slow Shove” takes its title from the song’s main riff – where many Bird Language songs originate, an approach understandable for a group of dudes who’ve done countless years in the Boston rock scene – and Nicolai shines a confessional light on its lyrics: “It’s basically about keeping in touch with old friends. How we have so many formative experiences with each other and then drift apart over the years. It takes effort to keep in touch and a bit of a motivating shove to keep that connection with your dear old pals.”

The sense of longing is a common theme across the EP. “Heartbreak Summertime” wades into feelings of loneliness and the desire to connect with someone. Simmons notes the songs, musically, have an underlying expression of physical pain and loneliness, a result of a particularly tense battle with Crohn’s Disease around the time he was writing their basic structures. That mood is further echoed in the lyrics: “I think winter is usually associated with these kind of feelings with seasonal depression and such,” says Nicolai, “but those same feelings can also happen on a beautiful summer day.”

One such summer day helped inspire “Perdido,” its title taken from the word “lost” in Brazilian Portuguese, a nod to its Bossa nova-inspired beat. Nicolai penned the lyrics about seeing Radiohead at Suffolk Downs in Boston in August 2001 with a group of friends: “We all started running in as the show was starting and I lost every single one of them for the whole show. No one had phones yet. The show was amazing but I spent the whole time by myself. I ended up finding some of them walking back to the T after the show had ended.”

And providing one last sonic punch on the EP is the wonderfully titled “Full Voltron,” an instrumental track constructed by Doherty that builds and builds, showcasing how powerful the band can be when each of its five members are all pulling in the same direction. It’s positioned as the greatest distance from the past Bird Language sound, and gives the EP an urgent dose of muscle and complexity. It’s the sound of those last few days of August, when summer begins its annual descent back into the real-life worries of autumn.

“I think sonically we are showing that we can have dynamics that are loud, but in a tasteful guitar tone, kind of way, but still have a shimmering rich, melodic sense,” notes Simmons.

Doherty adds: “We wanted to show how dynamic we are as musicians and how passionate we are about making music together. Come see us live and you will see what I mean.”

Bird Language is:

Andrew Doherty - Guitar

Jeff Nicolai - Vocals, keyboards, piano

Dave Norton - Drums

Pat Piasecki - Bass

Neil Simmons - Guitar

‘Chasing Echos’ production credits:

All songs written by Bird Language

Recorded by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios in November 2022

Mastered by Will Benoit at The Radar Studio

Drums on this recording by Michael Nashawaty

‘Chasing Echos’ EP artwork:

Bird Language reflects on a summer kind of mood with ‘Chasing Echos’

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