Origins Birdsongs owes its origins to the 1978 breakup of the Boston
post-punk band
Moving Parts, which included
Erik Lindgren (vocals, keyboards) and
Roger Miller (vocals, guitar). Miller went on to form the seminal
post-punk group
Mission of Burma (1979–1983; 2002–present), while Lindgren concentrated on
production work in his home
recording studio. While the Parts' breakup had been civil, Lindgren felt the need for an act of overt reconciliation, and in late 1980, he offered free studio time to his former bandmate should Miller have any non-Burma material he wanted to record. Miller had just written his first solo
piano pieces in years, and jumped at the offer. Lindgren volunteered to provide some keyboard
overdubs. Given that musical differences had led to the breakup of their earlier band, both musicians were surprised at the effectiveness of the collaboration. Burma
tape loop artist
Martin Swope was then enlisted for further overdub work on
electric guitar. The recording project might have ended there had not Boston's Modern Method record label approached Miller and asked for a Burma track for a
compilation album. Miller instead offered "Pulse Piece" from the sessions, naming the makeshift group "Birdsongs of the Mesozoic," a reference to a
Birdsongs of America album that Swope had sampled during the sessions and to then-new theories about the
dinosaur ancestry of birds (Miller having been a
dinosaur aficionado as a young child). The
Mesozoic era covered the period of roughly 66 million years ago to 248 million years ago, and is sometimes called the "age of dinosaurs." The band created a
Pterosaur silhouette as a logo, which they still use as of 2007, in a slightly modified version.
Birdsongs established and performs live Nothing further might have come from the project had not Modern Method also asked Miller if Birdsongs could perform at the album's 1981 record release party. For this performance, a lineup was assembled consisting of Miller on
piano, Lindgren on
synthesizer, Swope on
guitar, and Rick Scott on
electronic organ, with all members doubling on
percussion instruments.
Jon Pareles, music critic of
The New York Times, gave a positive review to the group's New York City debut, comparing their basic style to the minimalism of
Philip Glass delivered with the energy and brevity of
rock music: "In fact, most of the music is far more eventful, and less repetitious, than the average pop hit single." They did occasional
cover songs, which demonstrated the breadth of their influences: Adaptations of
Stravinsky's
The Rite of Spring, the theme songs to two animated television shows (
Rocky & Bullwinkle and
The Simpsons) and two different versions of
Brian Eno's "Sombre Reptiles".
After Miller and Swope leave In 1987 Miller left the group he founded to concentrate on his Maximum Electric Piano project, which he had recently begun as a
side project to Birdsongs. Miller was replaced by another Ann Arbor expatriate, saxophonist/keyboardist Steve Adams of Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet (who had shared many bills with Birdsongs). With Adams on board, Birdsongs music had a new jazz element to their sound. Within six months, however, Adams was offered a position in the
Rova Saxophone Quartet, and was replaced by saxophonist/flautist/keyboardist
Ken Field. This lineup recorded two albums for
Cuneiform Records (the first featuring Adams as well). Swope left in 1993 and was replaced by guitarist
Michael Bierylo. This lineup has remained stable to 2009, and has recorded several further albums for Cuneiform. The music of the current lineup has less
punk sound and more
modern classical and
jazz colorings than the original line-up, but their music is still very eclectic. In 2006, Birdsongs released
Extreme Spirituals, a collection of traditional American gospel songs and spirituals, with singer Oral Moses. ==Discography==