Team Clermont Artist of the Week: Biirdie

Biirdie spins sweeping anthems told in California semi-gloss, with twinges of West Coast Country and big-hearted Southern balladry. It's an album about place and location, about the way that geography affects us. California itself figures heavily as a character on the record; two of the band's members are Southern ex-pats and the lyrics often address the bewilderment of finding oneself transplanted to Los Angeles. If you need musical analogues then one might consider Fleetwood Mac, Grandaddy, CSNY, Rilo Kiley, and Brill Building pop, but that's by no means a complete list. This is ambitious orchestral music decked out in gorgeous harmonies, ringing pianos, and some pretty killer guitar work that knows a thing or two about dynamism. It knows when to take a breather and it knows when to go for the knockout.