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Peter Gural’s Birdy’s World features eleven songs that inhabit, in general, the realm of pop rock, albeit the Philadelphia-based performer stands capable of hitting the musical accelerator at his leisure. There are a handful of examples scattered throughout Birdy’s World where Gural filters his musical artistry through the guitar with hard-charging, insistent physicality that engages listeners every second.
URL: https://www.petergural.com/
Gural, however, crouches much of his songwriting vision within sleek and superbly constructed pop vehicles. He is not remaking the compositional wheel in any way with the songs on Birdy’s World, but his individuality and personal perspective slap a new coat of paint on familiar themes that imbues them with hitherto unrealized richness. He isn’t averse to pursuing a pure pop direction, as well, and it often pays off with some of the album’s finest moments.
He does not start that way, however. Gural begins the collection with its title track and leans heavily on high-charged guitar muscle that sweeps away all resistance in its wake. Spiking the collective six-string sound of the cut with a generous, yet never garish, amount of reverb fills the song’s character with a distinctive sonic stamp. Gural has an ideal voice for this sort of material, lightly authoritative and emotive, without ever sounding too coy or sickly sweet.
“Around the Bend” is a fascinating tune. Gural blends elegiac overtones into a breezily paced tune with a sparkling arrangement. The practically glancing touch of the guitars nevertheless conveys a melancholic mood without ever dragging listeners down and Gural accentuates that with the vulnerability of often near-quaking vocals. His wont for glimmering pop surfaces distinguishes “Ollie” as well as precise and stripped-down drumming. His brisk pacing for the song is the right choice. It gives “Ollie” an upbeat sweep that picks listeners up and sweeps them away with energetic promise and wins you over early.
The hard percussive smack driving “Living in Dysfunction” gives this cut an emphatic heartbeat and the accompanying guitar strikes along the same distinctive lines that mark the song’s predecessors. It is, without a doubt, Birdy’s World’s strongest rocker without succumbing to any of the style’s typical posturing. “CARE4U” has one of the album’s most unusual arrangements that evolves through swelling and shrinking over the course of the song. This patient use of dynamics enriches the song, without question, as Gural proves more than capable of capitalizing on the moment’s potential.
There’s a surprising amount of soulfulness audible throughout “Your Colors” and it helps set apart an already outstanding example of Gural’s songwriting quirkiness. We’re in familiar musical territory, for sure, but the Philadelphia-based songwriter shapes the song’s conventions in his image rather than regurgitating other’s past glories. There is no shortage whatsoever of significant compositions on Peter Gural’s Birdy’s World and this review covers the cream of the crop. The album’s eleven songs are an inspired musical ride orbiting consistent musical themes that reflect the songwriter’s obvious attention to writing and recording this album. His personal attention radiates from each of the album’s songs.
Jennifer Munoz
