With their layered textures and shelved honey jar harmonies Box of Baby Birds' dynamic folk-pop compositions feel focused and fresh as they swing in and out of familiarity. Songwriter Gary Calhoun James's arrangements swim through your noggin leaving memorable melodic hooks and occasionally treating you to sounds you can't quite pinpoint. Upon repeated listens you realize the detailed cinematic quality of the songs, hearing a subtle something in the mix that didn't reach your ears before. These hushed pieces of the recordings allow for enduring playability. -Chase Weinacht MORE ABOUT BOX OF BABY BIRDS Box of Baby Birds began in 2006 as a home recording side-project for multi-instrumentalist and Chicago-native Gary Calhoun James. James, with help from L.A. transplant Alance Ward on drums, layered his way through Box of Baby Birds’ self-titled debut (White Owl Recordings, 2007) in various Chicago apartments and the occasional borrowed studio. The resulting sound has a unique and unusual rhythmic backdrop layered with intricate guitars and keys upon which beautiful and hushed vocal melodies, harmonies and strings float. In 2009, James released a new batch of songs titled 'Arboreal' (White Owl Recordings 2009) which introduce an upbeat, vocal-driven twist to the softly intricate and melodic acoustic palette that is Box of Baby Birds signature. James continues to experiment in form and sound on Arboreal, mixing the familiarity of catchy pop with found sounds, noises and harmonic turns. Their third and latest release 'Crown of Bees', is the first to see the band performing as a whole. The title track was recorded live in the studio just before James' move to Austin and serves as a document of the Chicago ensembles energy and work over the last 4 years. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Box+of+Baby+Birds">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.