Birds of Play is an Americana Roots quartet based in the San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado. Their distinct sound is rooted and inspired by their connection to the land in which they reside. The band features multi-instrumentalists and songwriters Alex Paul on Guitar, Mandolin and Vocals; Eric Shedd on bass, Mandolin, Guitar and Vocals; Anneke Dean on Violin and Vocals and Jake Tolan on Guitar, Mandolin and Vocals.
Their arrangements and compositions reflect their vast and teaming pools of inspiration from artists such as Wood Brothers, Punch Brothers and Andrew Bird. The band’s high-calibre musicianship and songcraft are laced with imagination and a vibrant, intuitive understanding of the human condition – while their live shows weave together an intricate tapestry of place, authenticity, magic, and humour.
We recently raved about their upcoming fourth studio album ‘Birdsongs of the American West’ which lands on August 25th, noting “a lovely warm, homespun feel to the recordings…. With a broad palette of sounds to draw on Birds of Play have produced an album that adds a new dimension to the traditional string band.” And prior to its release, AUK is delighted today to premiere the video to a track from the album called ‘Breathe’.
Alex Paul told AUK: “I wrote ‘Breathe’ after witnessing my wife work through a fairly difficult period in her growth and understanding of her place in this big and mysterious world. I was navigating some of the same sentiments at the time and wrote this song to help us both remember that we’re all on our respective paths and that even amidst the tumult and uncertainty, we always have the power to shift our attention with the breath. This song was written shortly before recording Birdsongs of the American West and we worked it up specifically to close out this album. It’s been really neat to start performing Breathe this summer and to see how much it seems to be resonating with our fans.”
