Crane Like The Bird
Crane Like The Bird
Independent
After years of stacking up his resume, Kyle Crane has the spotlight. After touring with artists such as Neko Case and M. Ward, as well as appearing in the film Whiplash as the drum double, Craneβlike the bird, as he notesβis finally releasing music under his own name. On his debut album, he takes the listener inside his brain in an examination of nostalgia and innocence, better times, and worse.
On Crane Like the Bird, Crane revisits the loss of his father Jeff, a Coast Guard lieutenant from Humboldt Bay, CA, whose helicopter went down in a 1997 search-and-rescue mission. Throughout the album, Crane revisits old memories and explores how the loss affected his family. On the album cover, we see Craneβs mother throw a rose out to sea, at the crash site on the cliffs of Mendocino.
Crane is joined by a plethora of names, including Peter Moren (Peter Bjorn and John), Conor Oberst, and jazz pianist Brad Mehldau, in a collection of songs as diverse as the names on the album. The album opens with the fast, atmospheric “Wishing Cap’, where we’re offered nostalgic treats in lyrics such as “found a shoebox/in your room” and “filled with letters/anything to feel close to you forever”. Weβre digging through a personal tragedy, and while the music is energetic and happy, the lyrics tell a different story. Itβs as if Crane is telling us heβs okay, while heβs suffering inside.
Later, this juxtaposition becomes more defined with the albumβs highlight, βGlass Half Fullβ, where Moren sings βEvery morning I wake up/Iβm not the same as I was beforeβ, in contrast to the catchy synth beat. The backing vocals also belie the lead part, with Craneβs declaration that βYouβre talking to a glass half fullβ. The sensation of losing part of yourself, and trying to live without the missing piece, is prevalent throughout the album.
Crane is able to balance the more poppy tracksβincluding an honest and touching tribute to his sister in βNicoleββwith the slower, more melancholy ones. βNowβ sounds like it could have been made by Brian Wilson and Phil Spector. At this point, the album begins to evoke the sense of nostalgia that an adult would feel while reading a childhood diary. For a brief moment the song stops and the key changes, as if to ponder the current moment, and the innocence that is lost to time.
There is a wide variety of instrumentation. The aforementioned βNowβ, for example, contains lush horns and vibraphones, while βGrizzly Creek Redwoods State Parkβ feels like a trip up north, telling its story with a guitar and bass reminiscent of Gordon Lightfoot which reminds the listener of the parkβs tall trees and endless canvases of leaves. This song has no lyrics, because they are unnecessary. βKaleidoscopeβ, which is almost ten minutes long, transitions from a tribal dance into an emotional coda led by Mehldauβs keys.
In his lyrics, Crane doesnβt rely on clichΓ©s, instead taking a confessional tone, going through childhood memories, different emotions, and different times. Weβre given a window into a time when everything was okay, the tragedy, and the aftermath. Weβre given vivid hints of this story, this tragic moment from Crane. And yet the album is a way of coming to terms with it. I canβt comprehend what Crane and his family went through, but this is the closest Iβll get. The drums echo on the grand finale of this journey into Craneβs subconscious, these memories heβs stored away for some time, given a front seat to the show.
ArtistΒ Links
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: CRANE LIKE THE BIRD – CRANE LIKE THE BIRD
King Dawit