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Sleeping in the Aviary

Oh, This Old Thing?

(Science of Sound; US: 6 Feb 2007; UK: Unavailable)

This trio of scarf-wearing Wisconsinites marry the treble-loving punk-pop of Buzzcocks with the ramble-shamble indie rock of Pavement on their first album, Oh, This Old Thing?. Other influences abound, as well; all of them prime grade. Catchy promo track “Another Girl” has the same full-throttle appeal and melodic movement as a good Thermals song, while “Gloworm” rides a sweet, garage groove that’s part surf beat and part T. Rex chord changes. “No Socks” could have been penned by Devoto and Shelley circa ‘77. Not to imply that Sleeping in the Aviary are pointlessly derivative. They have their own way of stacking their influences on a skewer and roasting ‘em up. Even though Oh, This Old Thing? only lasts 23 minutes, it sure is a tasty good debut.

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Michael Keefe is a freelance music journalist, an independent bookstore publicist, and a singer/guitarist/songwriter in a band. Raised on a record collection of The Beatles, Coltrane, Mozart, and Ravi Shankar, Michael has been a slave to music his whole life. At age 16, he got a drum set and a job at a record store, and he's been playing and peddling music ever since. Today, he lives in Oregon with his wife (also a writer, but not about music), two cats, and a whole lot of instruments and CDs.


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By PopMatters Staff
6 Oct 2011
Despite the wide-ranging musical curiosity and joyful adaptation of classic musical forms (soul, doo-wop, pop/punk, indie-folk), Sleeping in the Aviary remains at their heart, a pop band, offering up instantly catchy and memorable tunes.
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