The Futurebirds Rock Out a Lullaby

© Mike White / Deadly Designs

Imagine sitting on a porch with six of your very best friends, drinking whiskey around a blazing fire, all of you reminiscing about the lows and highs of life. The Futurebird's Hampton’s Lullaby, the band’s new album under Autum Records, might just help you get there.

Beginning with “Johnny Utah,” and its almost middle-eastern mandolin licks, the band sets the tone for the rest of the album: a song with a indie feel whose steel pedal guitar brings it home, to the South.

Also notable are “There Is No Place For This To Go,” the echoic strings may just transport you to a place where time stands still. The song eventually lifts its sad tone with a little slide guitar, perfect harmonies, and distorted guitar solo can, bringing back a little hope.

“Battle For Rome” is another great tune, though the subject a little more serious. A tormented soldier struggles to deal with his deeds after leaving the madness and chaos of a bloody battle, “with the pain in my head to atone for all the things I’ve done.”

Though the influence is clearly Americana folk rock, the Futurebirds tinge their sound with a Southern California flare. Whether it is the strong vocal harmonies or the wet reverb so kin to surf rock, The Futurebirds new album, and their overall sound, makes you wonder if this is what The Beach Boys would have sounded like had they grown up in the Appalachians.

It’s refreshing to hear a band with distinct Southern roots sound and perfectly arranged four-part harmonies – all over a mélange of mandolin, banjo, acoustic and electric guitars served to an undercurrent of soaring steel pedal guitar.

But don’t forget to crank this album up. Parts of this lo-fi southern treasure definitely deserves to be played at high decibels.

Psychedelic-folk-rock, Country-grunge, Electric-Americana? It’s hard to fit in this band’s sound into a genre as songs travel through musical styles in the span of three to five minutes.

Still, it is likely that Hampton’s Lullaby will give the Futurebirds a solid identity in indie, garage-country, psychedelic rock circles. The solid debut album may comingle many different styles and genres, but it definitely melts them, giving Futurebirds an identity of their own, and enough musical juice to get them, and you, to their next project.