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Ben Vida’s latest is hippie-tastic, a mellow trip replete with drum-circle beats, all-together-now vocals and a free, open vibe. It’s easy to imagine Vida and his colleagues (including labelmates Robert Lowe of
Lichens and
Greg Davis) sitting cross-legged in the woods, emitting sonic smoke signals as they stare at the sun—an image encouraged by the cover, which shows Vida’s collection of bells, tambourines, and pan flutes (he plays 25 instruments in total) atop a weathered oriental rug. It’d also be easy to call
Bird Show nostalgic, but that would be wrong. On “Green Vines”, one of the few songs not named for the instruments used, Vida’s
Terry Riley-style keyboard laps against the rattling percussion, creating soft waves for the vocals to happily ride. As curlicues of guitar drift away, the whole thing can start to feel almost too good, but don’t fight it: that’s just the track kicking in."
paper thin walls
"...“Green Vines” is about the effect that certain places, physical settings, have on the senses. How being in the desert or deep in a woodland area can have an almost drug-like effect on you."
ben vida
