Hand It To Hollywood
When looking for inspiration, Vancouver’s We Found A Lovebird traverse no further than the city they reside in. Scrawled across their lyrics and etched onto their album artwork, the influence of the city is ever-present on their self-titled release: it shapes their personal experiences, musical styles and lyrical content.

We Found A Lovebird’s self-titled release is a bit indescribable; it is not quite indie pop, yet not complete rock ‘n’ roll or folk either. Instead, it is a hybrid of melancholic voices, a brass section, femininity, shoegaze sounds and rock guitars most epitomized by “I Need A Good Drunk.” This is a laid back tune that’s smooth and thoughtful, up until each factor culminates into a tempo breakdown before ultimately starting back up into its soft melody. Edged with darkness, “The Lament” is definitely the best cut on the album. Soft yet strained vocals with a surly demeanour add an ominous presence to an otherwise upbeat affair. Harmonized and muted trumpets, along with the drumbeat and guitar, make it punchy and danceable, while synthesizers provide an organ chorale sound supporting the feeling of “Thank Heaven for those bound for Hell / Thank God it’s never easy to tell.”

Perhaps the minor downfall is that the exhaustive genre changes that occur do not always make sense. “The Lament,” a song so filled with cynicism and charm, is preceded by an almost calypso-like song “Concertina” and followed by the heavily rock tinged “Reality TV.” As separate entities, most of the songs are fun, quirky and interesting (save “O Avenue Park”) but compiled together do not compliment each other like a more fine-tuned album would. We Found A Lovebird captures space within the Vancouver music scene, but has yet to really formulate an identity.