Fans of second-wave K Records folkists like Microphones, Karl Blau, and Little Wings will not be disappointed by the quietly growing output of Bird by Snow, a.k.a. Big Sur resident Fletcher Tucker. The natural beauty of the California coastline has much in common with the further reaches of the Pacific Northwest, which may be what gives Tucker’s ruminative work its particular uplift. It’s certainly a factor seized upon in the video for “Peering Out,” a percussively blessed study in shamanistic songcraft that hails from the latest Bird by Snow album, Offering. The clip is actually split into six frames, with Tucker tending to his campfire in the bottom middle. Around him, each of the five remaining portions is filled with a distinct habitat of Big Sur. Within each of those, choreographer Em Gift invents a dance for each element of the song. In the bottom left, where she’s seen fluttering her fingers from within a hollow tree, she is hearing only the acoustic guitar. On the bottom right, where she delivers a spirited ‘squatch-stomp on a golden hillside, she is hearing only the percussion. Top right: bass line. Top middle: electric guitar. Top left: the whole song. Go ahead, hit play and take it all in — Gift gives you just enough time to match each move to the track before starting a new one. Tucker works alone on his music, which makes this video all the more fitting: via minimal means, Bird by Snow create rich, sylvan tapestries that seem bigger than the sum of their parts.
