Travis Bird

Travis Bird divides his time between New Orleans and Chicago, travelling the highways and byways spanning the North-South axis of America. Bourgeois Treats (his first major attempt at solo pop songcraft) is also, in a sense, of many homes. Effortlessly shifting gears from naive, skeletal folk to jazz-inflected jangle to driving, roots-heavy rock, Bird has pretty much covered the American landscape with his expertly executed tunes. All too often, casting such a wide stylistic net can result in an album filled with not-quite-great songs that never hit the mark. Due to the strength of Bird's songwriting, Bourgeois Treats manages to come across as a sonic melting pot, imbued with a refreshing, and extremely rare, sense of synergy. Channelling the likes of Television, British Invasion-era pop groups and roots-rockers such as the Band, Bourgeois Treats shouldn't work. That it does is a testament to Bird's songwriting prowess