release date: Jun. 12, 2020
format: vinyl (gatefold - OOTWLP1)
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,48]
producer: Ditte Grube Barild
label: self-released - nationality:
Studio album debut by Out of the Woods aka Ditte Grube Barild who has written, arranged, recorded, and produced all songs.
I purchased this on the evening of a concert with Nana Bech and Out of the Woods in my hometown back in 2020. I must confess that I found the performance and the music by Bech superior to this but still wanted to support two performing artists by purchasing their music. However, I do find this lacking an original tone and frankly think of it as non-inspiring. That said, Ditte Grube has produced everything on her own, which calls for much respect, but as a an original work of art, as a musical statement, I think the album suffers on several parameters. The songs and the albums as such are quite a coherent whole but also lacking colours that enables you to distinguish the single tracks from one another., and then the arrangements of it all simply call for supporting instrumentation. Not all music needs melody lines and musical hooks in a traditional sense, but if you aim to construct music in other ways, you need something else to grab the listener's attention - and this is where Birds and Beasts fail, 'cause the narratives are not strong enough, the music is too anonymous, and I guess you could say the same about the vocal performance by Ditte Grube.
Not recommended.
