REVIEW -- CLEM SNIDE: HUNGRY BIRD

Clem Snide

Hungry Bird

(429)

Three years ago, frontman Eef Barzelay moved what was left of his band (originally from Boston then New York) to Nashville. They recorded Hungry Bird and then broke up. In the interim, Barzelay released a pair of solo records while Clem Snide’s sixth, and supposedly final, album sat on the shelf. With the release of Hungry Bird comes word that the group isn’t finished yet. But it sure sounds like it, if Barzelay’s apocalyptic requiems are any indication. The 10 songs shuffle along at a languid pace that’s as much about savoring the moment as it is mourning the departed. Barzelay still weds words – which cover everything from transgendered beauty queens (“Born a Man”) to Mad Max-like musings (“We have their bones to comb our hair”) – to delicately played and layered indie-rock. Songs go on for five, six, sometimes seven minutes, as if Barzelay doesn’t want this all to end. It’s a fitting finale. -- Michael Gallucci