Birdseye

Birdeye’s simple folk-toned compositions can be deceiving for the complexity of feeling they evoke. Driven by rich emotionality, heart-rending harmonies, and an eloquent lyrical sensibility, Birdseye features a haunting duet of female and male vocals supported by guitar, piano, cello, bass, and minimal percussion. While Swan and David ’s voices blend, complimenting and accentuating each other’s unique expression, David holds down much of the rhythm with his steady, clever and delicately emotive writing on guitar, and Swan steps up to accent parts of songs with lilting flourishes of piano, thundering hits on the tom drum, and driving shakes of the tambourine. They are joined by a small rotating group of extremely talented musicians including Rebecca Roudman on cello, Andrew Courier on bass, cello, piano (and anything else he can get his hands on), and Miles Jay on bass.

Birdseye brings something new to the world of male/female duos as each of the leads holds such a clearly unique potency. Perhaps because of this they have primarily been compared with individual artists, such as Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Lisa Hannigan, James Vincent McMorrow and Beth Gibbons of Portishead, although some duets that have been found reminiscent are Arcade Fire, Low, and Katie Moore’s collaboration with Patrick Watson.

Swan and David started Birdseye with years of experience and a lifelong dedication to music. David’s mother remembers him as a baby, sitting rapt next to the speakers while she played her LPs, completely captivated by everything from Olivia Newton John to Michael Jackson. At 21 years old David started making his own music, and in 2004 he toured with El Jefe, a hip-hop band from Santa Barbara on the West Coast portion of the Warped tour. This was his first true taste of what would soon become a way of life. In 2009 he released a solo EP under the moniker Paper Machete entitled The Vine. That same year, David wrote and recorded a song with the electronic act Bassnectar, and in 2010 he went on the road with Bassnectar, performing the song live for sold out shows of as many as 8,000 fans.

Swan also has a rich history of creative collaboration nurtured within California’s culturally fertility. Raised in a musical family, she grew up with pianos, drum kits, harmonicas, and guitars surrounding her and music pulsing through the walls of her home. Swan wrote her first song at 7, and though she continued to always lean towards musical composition, she didn’t fully embrace herself as a songwriter until she turned 16, and quickly proceeded to fill tape after tape and book after book with ideas. She began to seek out other players and became enchanted with collaboration. She has worked within the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles underground music scenes, writing, recording, and performing on her own and with many independent producers and bands such as Eskmo, The Glitch Mob, Beats Antique, and R/D, to write songs that have been released on such labels as Warp Records, Glass Air, Quaketrap, and Tycho. In addition to Birdseye, Swan has teamed up with producer R/D on a project called Pair Of Arrows, a blend of “dark-tinged, electro-chillwave and haunted-retro-disco-pop.” Their debut track was released in early January 2012 to a flurry of acclaim and features on indie music blogs and networks. POA expects to be completing the rest of the album and touring by late summer. Swan will be featured in a string of R/D's shows this summer including Coachella and Lightning In A Bottle.

Currently Swan and David are devoted to the completion and release of their debut album, as well as a remix tape of that album at the end of the 2012 Summer with several reputable producers lending their take on Birdseye’s tunes. They are preparing for the summer festival season, taking the stage at such festivals as Lightning in a Bottle and Symbiosis, and look forward to seeing you there.