Admiral Fallow – First of the Birds
The Glasgow five-piece return with First of the Birds, a handsome, although occasionally uneven fifth LP
This fifth studio album from Admiral Fallow is their first in four years, with at least one track (The Shortest Night) dating back further, to the early days of the pandemic. Clearly, the Glasgow five-piece are the kind of band happy to allow their ideas room to breathe, to crystallise at their own pace, which is something palpable on First of the Birds; the best songs here are stately and refined, unfurling at their own pace.
Opener First Names (Storms) is a case in point, as is the stunning Dead in the Water along with gorgeous closer All the Distractions – all tracks where the sparse, elegant instrumentation provide a foundation for frontman Louis Abbott’s stirring vocals to wash over. Elsewhere, there's experimentation, with mixed results; the ambitious art-rock of Daydreaming (Why Any of This?) might be the record’s standout, with its shifting sonic landscape, but stabs at boisterous pop-rock (The Shortest Night; Headstrong) feel cluttered, and are jarring when set against the album’s otherwise measured feel. Regardless, First of the Birds still marks Admiral Fallow as one of Scotland’s most thoughtful indie-rock outfits, as they inch closer to 20 years together.
Listen to: Dead in the Water, All the Distractions