Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad - Subject To Change

Robot Recordings
2014

"Subject To Change" is the sixth full-length release from Bucks County, PA-based rock band Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad. Engineered by Nick Cislak (Commonwealth Choir/Eric Venuto*) and band leader/singer/multi-instrumentalist Joe Ujj at Ujj's own Robot Recordings studio, "Subject To Change" was amazingly enough recorded over the course of a mere three days during which time time Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad put a full five hours worth of material to tape! Naturally this nine-track album features only the best moments from the three-day session with Joe Ujj and his companions (drummers Todd Mason and  J.P. Wasieko, bassist/vocalist RJ Gilligan and keyboardist Joe Montone) navigating the long divide between eighties college rock and mid-period Radiohead! With it's slow build-up and psychedelic after-effects "The Creek" is simply an inspired choice as far as opening numbers go and as the listener comfortably drifts into "Lipstick Hate" the truly dream-like structure of Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad comes to life. Guest guitarist Chris Halford appears on both numbers (as well as the excellent cut "Infinite"!) and his lead work on the album's first three tracks makes "Subject To Change" feel inspired! Of course there is plenty of life to be found beyond the limits of these first few songs. The slightly-charged (ragged) garage rocker "Everyone Deserves The Same Thing", the feed-back heavy "Storm Witch" and "Ride The Pony" (with it's Radiohead on LSD, space-rock greatness!) all offer different perspectives of Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad. And the same goes for melancholy track "Lucky Old Sun". The dreariest moment on "Subject To Change", "Lucky Old Sun" aches with pain and sorrow so it is good fortune that Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad's sixth full-length studio album ends on a more positive note with "Token Of Home". A devilishly-cleaver song, "Token Of Home" combines this band's love of early to mid-period Radiohead, "Their Satanic Majesties Request"-era Rolling Stones, "Maggot Brain"-era Funkadelic and the dynamics of post-grunge into one guitar-heavy cut! With that kind of a number closing out "Subject To Change" there is literally nothing to complain about when it about Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad's latest album. Be sure to head over here to find out more about this band: https://www.facebook.com/birdienumnumandthespiritsquad/info

* Eric Venuto (percussion, vocals and noises) is actual a guest musician on Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad's "Subject To Change".