Bilders

***The NZ-American Bilders brings Matt Swanson (Lambchop, My Dad Is Dead) and Alex McManus (Vic Chesnutt, Lambchop) into the fold, all with acclaimed albums in their saddlebags. Quality production and mature song themes reflect a lot of pure experience. Dustbin of Empathy opens with a voyage across Europe and down the generations, a tribute to the small people who survive massive events. One tune has an anti-war bias. Peace! Another is a trip of a kind—"Angel (The Astronomer)" is an eerie voyage into the “sinuses” of space. Most of the tunes were co-written, a couple were penned by Direen alone. High quality recordings, and the pedigree of the musicians, should make this unexpected album a pearl of 2024. It is hard to choose a stand-out track for campus stations—alluring “Lately Rain”, epic "Citizens of Nowhere", the harder edge of "Anvil Dark", lap-steel engraved "Scaribus" or already WFMU-blooded "Custody of Love"? Pure quality to take you from Dustbin right the way back to Empathy.