Like countless bands the story of Finnish quartet Them Bird Things begins with Bill Haley & The Comets’ classic ‘Rock Around The Clock’, by many considered the very first rock’n’roll song. However, here it begins in 1955 in Northfield, Vermont, where a 12 year-old Michael Brassard was shot-gunned into a musical career after hearing Haley’s mind-boggling new tunes.

He went on to start garage outfit Mike & The Ravens with guitarist, songwriter and best friend Stephen Blodgett, enjoying success in the early sixties before disbanding. The duo continued to write and release songs throughout the decade (Blodgett also kept going through the 70s and 80s), compiling an extensive back catalogue which is at the base of this story some fifty years later and a continent away in Helsinki, Finland.

To cut a longer story shorter it was love at first listen for Them Bird Things main woman Salla Day when she was introduced to the American duo by producer Will Shade in 2006 and dug in to their vast archive of unreleased songs. She returned to Finland, abandoned her band Branded Women and the organ and grabbed the microphone, hired in Timo Vikkula, Ville Särmä and Esa Jussila for guitar, drum, bass duties and thus we’ve reached the climax so far: the release of ‘Fly, Them Bird Things, Fly!’.

And it really is a sweet climax with 12 songs ranging from old school shuffle R’n’R (album opener ‘Like A Fire’) over folk with bossa nova aspirations (‘Blue Parakeet’) to lazy blues in ‘I Can See Russia From Here’ in the player below (one of two songs by Brassard) sporting the coolest anti-solo by Timo Vikkula.

‘Shame, Shame, Shame, Shame, Shame’ would have fitted the dance-off scene in Grease perfectly, melancholic love-gone-sour ballad ‘Your Baby’s Not Your Baby Anymore’ adds light psychedelia to the picture, while ‘Pockets Of Rain’ could’ve been a song by Danish garage rock outfit Baby Woodrose.

On top of it all is Salla Day’s very characteristic voice delivering the lyrics on basic human conditions with impressive feel, providing an extra dimension to ‘Fly, Them Bird Things, Fly!’. It’s expressive, androgynous and definitely an acquired taste. There really is nothing quite like it out there and after thinking long and hard I’ve decided I like it. A lot.

Although Ms. Day calls Them Bird Things and Blodgett/Brassard’s songs timeless and protests the notion that they’re retro, there’s no denying that most songs on this debut carry with them a feel of the past. I guess it’s a matter of words and I can accept the timeless aspect. After all, there is a reason why so many bands now salute the rock from then. And then good songs are good songs no matter when or where they’re written and executed.

Genre: Rock
Who: Them Bird Things
Album: Fly, Them Bird Things, Fly!
Label: Playground Music
Year: 2009
Country: Finland
Language: English
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Recommended tracks:
Like A Fire – Blue Parakeet – I Can See Russia From Here – Shame, Shame, Shame, Shame, Shame – Your Baby’s Not Your Baby Anymore – Pockets Of Rain