released 05/03/2007
"Au Revoir Simone's debut mini-album 'Verses of Assurance, comfort and salvation did exactly what it said on the tin. There are few more comforting sounds around than these three women singing over the top of their cheap keyboards and old drum machines. On 'The Bird Of Music' they give us more of the same but there's a slightly more assertive edge on a couple of tracks, the bouncy pop of 'Dark Halls' and the album's highlight 'A Violent Yet Flammable World' where wistful lyrics compete with Spectorish drums. The Brooklyn trio's vocals may have a soft edge, but the lyrics can be razor sharp, as on the heart tuggingly selfless 'Fallen Snow' "Nothing's worse than seeing you worse than me, nothing hurts like seeing you hurt like me" [Sunday Times Culture]
"From the Go-Go's-doing-Stereolab melody of 'Dark Halls', to the ambient 'Lark' this album skulks around with deathly grace like a wolf skirting around Brooklyn Bridge at 3 a.m. Pretty, perverse and almost perfect" [NME LP Revew]
"A classic debut" [Clash]
"A defiantly feminine, touching debut" [Uncut]
"A prime example of girl-group, synth-hooked, indie-pop par excellence" [Plan B]
"The Bird of Music boasts a pure-pop classic as its centre piece" [Plan B]
"A delight for the senses" [The Fly]
"A winning way with a melody" [Time Out]
"Those who like their music literate, warm and evocative will love it. Stars builds to a sparkly, deceptively romantic chorus ("You make me wanna measure starts in the backyard with a calculator, and a ruler, baby") and Sad Song trips along on a Stereolab pulse while limpid banks of synths swirl around. Often beautiful, always intruing" [London Lite]
"If you're not moved by 'The Lucky One's' massed chorus that asks only that you, "let the sunshine, so, let it come", then it'll be the classic girl-group stylings of 'A Violent Yet Flammable World or the none-more-jaunty emoto-thon of 'Fallen Snow' that get you with their flowing, unhurried charm" [Word]
- The Lucky One
- Sad Song
- Fallen Snow
- I Couldn't Sleep
- A Violent Yet Flammable World
- Don't See The Sorrow
- Dark Halls
- Night Magestic
- Stars
- Lark
- The Way To There