Sea Also

The not-so-rare Rarebirds finally drop their first LP.

by John Vettese

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Published: Apr 24, 2007

There's not much wiggle room in the Rarebirds' day planner.

FLOCKING TOGETHER: Rarebirds' Rick Hass, Adam Herndon, Carolynne McNeel, Keith Forsythe and Dave Dworanczyk (from left). Photo By: Michael Tolbert (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Three-fifths of the band also have memberships in other area bands. Keyboardist Rick Hass and bassist Adam Herndon, both alumni of This Radiant Boy, play in the funky punk foursome Barking Spiders. Herndon also adds drums to Run Runner's dance rock. But it's the auburn-haired frontwoman, Carolynne McNeel, who wins for Rarebird with most outside commitments. In addition to writing all of the songs for this group — and co-founding South Philadelphia's crafty Mew Gallery, and working "three or four other jobs" on the side — she plays keyboards in Grammar Debate and backs the live lineup of Alexander Yaker's dreamy roots combo Roomtone.

Herndon says it's a matter of opportunities — most band members play more than one instrument, so each project is another chance to diversify. But what does this mean aside from hectic schedules, built-in crowds, very infrequent touring and those ubiquitous "featuring members of" tags on show bills?

"That's why it took us a year and a half to make this record," says Hass.

Ah, yes, the record. Begun in January of 2006, Rarebirds' full-length debut Burial at Sea is finally being released this spring. An elegant, eclectic mix of chamber rock, indie pop and debonair soul hooks, it's a formidable vessel for McNeel's songcraft, and an album well worth the wait for those who have followed the band since its zygotic stage as The Carolynne McNeel Three. It's also a collection of songs that could have been made only by seasoned musicians.

"A lot of bands today get their niche sound and stick with that," says guitarist Keith Forsythe of the album's devout eclecticism. "We don't."

Drummer Dave Dworanczyk — late of The Secession Movement, and driving force behind Burial's most gripping moments — says the group focuses on a crafting a distinguished recorded sound rather than a performed one. "A lot of times, you'll see bands just go crazy onstage, and for them, that's what it's all about," he says. "Our live show has a lot of really good energy, but ... I think we really just focus on the song itself, and what the song is supposed to do."

Hass talks of the importance of stepping back when the song calls for it, crafting arrangements that might, say, highlight one of McNeel's melodies, or one of Forsythe's guitar licks, rather than everybody clamoring to be the center of attention. This is something you learn from playing in a lot of bands, Hass says. Forsythe is more blunt: "Playing with restraint is the difference between an amateur musician and a real musician."

McNeel describes the set as a more mature version of the songs she wrote in her inaugural Philadelphia group, April Disaster, which split up in 2003. This comparison is apt; the chiming, minimal guitar-picking patterns carry over from that band, and her honeyed vocals are just as much a soft central force now as they were then. She's somewhat nostalgic for those early days. "A lot of those songs, it sounds really funny, but I'd be falling asleep, have a dream with a melody line in it, wake up, and that's how I'd write them," she recalls.

But leaving things at that would do a disservice to the degree to which McNeel's songwriting has matured in the time since, and to the intriguing stylistic blend her bandmates have brought to the table, exhausting calendars and all.

(j_vettese@citypaper.net)

Thu., April 26, 9 p.m., $8, with Audible and Surefire Broadcast, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com.

 

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