{"id":6370,"date":"2017-12-08T13:43:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T18:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?p=6370"},"modified":"2018-01-31T13:03:58","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T18:03:58","slug":"slaughter-beach-dog-birdie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/","title":{"rendered":"Slaughter Beach, Dog <br>Birdie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/birdie.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6371\" src=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/birdie.jpg\" alt=\"Slaughter Beach, Dog- Birdie\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/birdie.jpg 250w, https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/birdie-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>It\u2019s hard not to feel apprehensive about listening to albums from side projects. Frequently, these projects are critical tossups; even if the band from which they stemmed is otherwise great, striking gold outsides those confines is a rare occurance. When that original band is Modern Baseball\u2014a Philadelphia-based band entrenched in a scene where fans discuss similar artists in terms of which emo wave they originated from\u2014the risk of a side project being tossed off is very real. That\u2019s exactly the scenario Modern Baseball co-frontman Jake Ewald is in with his singer-songwriter outlet Slaughter Beach, Dog.<\/p>\n<p>When listening to Slaughter Beach, Dog\u2019s <i>Birdie<\/i> (Lame-O Records), there are some matters to take into account before analyzing the album through the lens of Modern Baseball. Outside of a few final October shows, Ewald\u2019s other band went on hiatus in February, allowing him significant time to make his used-to-be side gig the main one. Then there\u2019s a matter of context: the LP preceding <i>Birdie<\/i>, the 2016 debut <i>Welcome<\/i>, was largely composed quickly in the same emo tradition as Modern Baseball. So, the question is if a focused Ewald would differentiate <i>Birdie<\/i> from Modern Baseball and from its past?<\/p>\n<p>The answer is pretty much, yeah. Signaled by July\u2019s <i>Motorcycle.jpg<\/i> EP, the Slaughter Beach, Dog of now veers toward folkier and traditional arrangements centered around acoustic guitar. <i>Birdie\u2019s<\/i> songs do indeed sound like they were written (as Ewald attests) in a friend\u2019s basement and with more time and consideration, precisely the kind of album you put out when you can take a break from your headlining band.<\/p>\n<p>The only thing connecting <i>Birdie<\/i> back to <i>Welcome<\/i> is how Ewald again focuses on writing about fictionalized subjects as opposed to personal matters. Given the textural shift of <i>Birdie<\/i>, however, the songs deliver here like Weakerthans lite. \u201cShapes I Know,\u201d a track in which Ewald illustrates how Christmas can be a hellish or heavenly time of year based on different perspectives, takes it cues from the Weakerthans\u2019 \u201cExiles Among You.\u201d Although both Ewald\u2019s and John K. Samson\u2019s stories are seemingly fabricated, they\u2019re nonetheless both profound testaments to human experience.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, <i>Birdie\u2019s<\/i> power is somewhat buried and requires numerous listens to pull out its strengths. It might\u2019ve been improved by leaning further into artists like Weakerthans and balancing the same sincere lyricism with rock that\u2019s more dynamic. (\u201cFish Fry\u201d and \u201cSleepwalking\u201d are almost there; the former could\u2019ve been penned by Matt Berninger.) Whether or not such an approach would involve reverting to parts of <i>Welcome<\/i> or something else entirely, Ewald has hardly reached his ceiling yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s hard not to feel apprehensive about listening to albums from side projects. Frequently, these projects are critical tossups; even if the band<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,2126,2125],"class_list":["post-6370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-lame-o-records","tag-slaughter-beach-dog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Slaughter Beach, Dog Birdie - The Agit Reader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Slaughter Beach, Dog Birdie - The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s hard not to feel apprehensive about listening to albums from side projects. Frequently, these projects are critical tossups; even if the band\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-08T18:43:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-31T18:03:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/birdie.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Lovett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matthew Lovett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matthew Lovett\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/8c95feed88db5718157f573e906d86e7\"},\"headline\":\"Slaughter Beach, Dog Birdie\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-08T18:43:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-31T18:03:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/\"},\"wordCount\":447,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/birdie.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Album Review\",\"Lame-O Records\",\"Slaughter Beach Dog\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Album Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slaughter-beach-dog-birdie\/\",\"name\":\"Slaughter Beach, Dog Birdie - 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