Artist Bowerbirds

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Bowerbirds

A band with a guy who sings and strums prettily and a girl who also sings and plays accordion doesn't necessarily have to mess around with good songwriting or nuanced arrangements to get a crowd basking in its precious glow these days, but North Carolina's Bowerbirds go ahead and do that stuff anyway. Their gentle acoustic wanderings don't necessarily aim to evoke the old days of Americana or psychedelia so much as a soft-focus memory of a childhood nature walk. Where other young folkies saddle themselves with too much trippiness or twang, Bowerbirds simply keep it warm and open. The band's 2009 album, Upper Air, maintains a certain reassuring calm throughout while gracefully twisting through plaintive drones and ominous pianos.

Updated 01/11/2010