Good Flying Birds: Talulah's Tape

"Indie pop used to be so much scrappier: full of guitar fuzz, played by musicians whose passion generally superseded their skill. It was punk for people who couldn't wear studs, down to the amateurish art, deeply direct lyrics, and underground cassette trading networks-a scene where the north stars were early Rough Trade 7"s and the Television Personalities instead of, say, Fleetwood Mac."

"Originally known as Talulah God (a nod to Amelia Fletcher's first band, Talulah Gosh) before changing to their new moniker (a reference to Guided by Voices), Good Flying Birds are ostensibly the solo project of Kellen Baker, who wrote, played, and performed 95 percent of Talulah's Tape from 2020-2024. This makes Talulah's Tape, first released as a cassette this past January, simultaneously an introduction and greatest hits collection-a smorgasburg of whatever ideas Baker found most interesting at a given moment."

"The girl/boy harmonies of "I Will Find" sound ripped from a forgotten Heavenly song. Bandmate Susie Slaughter's vocal parts are the perfect icing to every track she's on. "Fall Away" and "Eric's Eyes" trigger the same rush as the earliest songs from the Radio Dept.: the ramshackle drumming, muffled vocals, and distortion form a thick blanket of wistfulness and lost innocence."

Indie pop once prioritized scrappy guitar fuzz, amateur art, direct lyrics, and underground cassette networks over polish. Good Flying Birds' Talulah's Tape channels that DIY energy with low-fidelity four-track production and a blend of egg punk and DIY pop. Kellen Baker performed and recorded roughly ninety-five percent of the material between 2020 and 2024. The release first appeared on cassette in January and compiles varied ideas across years. The record evokes classic indie-pop hooks, girl/boy harmonies, ramshackle drumming, muffled vocals, distortion, and moments of heightened volume and reverb that underline wistfulness and lost innocence.

Read at Pitchfork