»I Wish I Was Special« still rang out from the debut album by the two DIY figures behind Guests. One assumes they did not really mean it that way. Those songs radiated neither ambition nor pointed wishfulness, nor any real desire to stand out. More precisely: nothing was ever quite fully articulated. Bargain-keyboard field-recording music, sleep-deprived, still a little hazy from the day before. Sketch-like, always just withholding itself from full surrender. Juvenile in a certain way; utterly charming, in any case. And in those moments when actual SONG was, in fact, allowed in (»A Veneer«, »A Promise«, »Whatever«), very GOOD as well.
Now comes album number two. And in principle the same formula again: bedroom synths, John-Travolta-meme drum machines (to where, exactly?) and lyrics for a literary evening in some off-location venue. Fittingly, buyers of the limited edition are promised »some stuff«. Understatement remains the grand gesture. Yet – however much they may not wish to admit it – on Common Domestic Bird, Guests have allowed themselves a little more ambition. At points, this is almost synth-pop now. With dub in the tank too, no less. The bass did not thump like this last time, did it?
But even if everything now sounds a little fuller, a little more purposeful, the music of Jessica Higgins and Matthew Walkerdine still preserves its own unmistakable charm on this second round. The sort of record to accompany feeding ducks in the city on an overcast day. Only they refuse. They are not hungry. So you end up chewing on the dry bread yourself. Shrug life.
Common Domestic Bird
