Komedia, 12th April

Brighton’s Birdengine descended on Komedia to showcase a peculiar brand of strange and dark compositions. XYZ’s Mo Mostowfi lingered in the darkness amongst the many others who showed up to have a listen.

To avoid any confusion, it’s worth noting that Birdengine is a one-man-band. Lawry Joseph Tilbury sat with his guitar, recounting peculiar stories about dead mermaids, cutting the heads off dogs and evil twins, in his unconventional tone, with uneasy, beautiful melodies. All the songs played tonight had a sombre feel, with the hint of sarcasm underpinning his lyricism. Between songs he was witty and quick, something of a running theme with artists affiliated with Woodland Recordings.

Tilbury’s compositions paint pictures in the head and, if you have particularly wild imagination, these images could be quite vivid. His uneasy listening may not be to everyone’s tastes, but maybe this is AOR for the 21st century? It would take a pretty open-minded teenager to fully embrace Birdengine, but if you are bored with the typical live music format of four guys standing around with guitars, please take my recommendation. Birdengine is truly unique; you won’t see an act like this in Brighton at the moment. Hunt him down and out.

Tonight was thoroughly enjoyable; dark, funny, strange and unique. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but you’ll never know unless you check it out. It’s definitely worth that, at least.

Words by Mo Mostwfi
Photos by Stephen Burch