REVIEWSThe Wooden Birds, ‘Two Matchsticks’

6

• SPIN Rating:6 of 10

• • Listen:

    Spotify

Release Date: June 7, 2011
Label: Barsuk

Despite expanding his band to include Matt Pond and simpatico guest Ben Gibbard, former American Analog Set frontman Andrew Kenny sticks to the stripped-down strum plus surf-guitar embellishments of his 2009 debut as the Wooden Birds. Two Matchsticks evokes the Everly Brothers' sibling intimacy, but Kenny's lonely campfire songs cling to a limited number of minor keys, similar tempos, and virtually identical arrangements. "Folly Cub" is an unnerving charmer, but everything that follows sounds like a more modest remix of that first killer cut.