ARTIST: Futurebirds 
TITLE: Futurebirds
YEAR RELEASED: 2009
CHART ACTION: None
SINGLES: None
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Well, maybe on really hip college radio.
LINEUP: Thomas Johnson, Johnny Ludnock, Carter King, Brannon Miles, Daniel Womack, Dennis Love
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Athens band record an EP with a country feel, feedbacky guitars, harmonies and some other interesting elements. Too bad about the lo-fi sound.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Sometimes lo-fi is good. Sometimes it works against a band. The Futurebirds self-released EP is one of those. The harmonies and vocals sound like they were recorded one county over and piped into the studio via a tin cup.
Yet there’s something to like here. The EP definitely has a My Morning Jacket Feel to it, though there’s a little more country in their psychedelic rock mixture. The songs seem tight as well, and there’s some good guitar and melody lines throughout.
It’s only six songs, but the vocal sound makes it tough at times. Still, I can see this as a way for them to get signed (and it was).
NOTES & MINUTAE: They’ve been at Bonnaroo. Maybe some of you have seen them there?
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No
GRADE: B-: Again, it’s not like I don’t like lo-fi, but making the vocals sound like this when they could be more prominent and better mixed is a shame.