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Horse Thief In a One​-​Horse Town

by Bird People

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rise804
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Mummel
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Bryan Colegate
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Tony Carroll
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1.
Home Sweet Home 05:14
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2.
Song for Crow 04:26
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3.
Ghazal No. 25 03:58
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4.
Sally 05:38
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5.
The Dishonest Scout 05:18
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6.
Actor In a Supporting Role (Romantic Comedies) 04:14
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7.
Until 3 a.m. 04:13
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8.
A Warning 04:04
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9.
X-Mas In Jail 04:02
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10.
Solomon Scorned 05:20
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about

"Horse Thief In a One-Horse Town” is the second album by the Vienna-based indie band Bird People.
All songs on the album were written in a two-week spurt of creativity at the end of September 2011 and recorded immediately afterwards. Uli Rois, the singer-songwriter behind the Bird People moniker, played all instruments on the album, as well as handling production and mixing duties. Uli wanted to get the songs out as soon as possible and recording all by himself was the best way to achieve that goal. The DIY, home-recording approach and the frantic work-ethos resulted in a very raw and immediate, lo-fi sound, which suits the nature of the songs and the content of the lyrics rather well.
Uli likes to think of this as his “outlaw country album”. Stalwarts of this genre, like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson are an obvious touchstone for his songwriting on this album. Many songs on “Horse Thief” employ classic country imagery with their tales of heartbreak, hard living and being on the run. Uli’s fascination with the American Southwest continues to leave a mark on his songwriting too. The first person is used throughout the album and we can imagine this lyrical persona as a psychedelicized gunslinger/snake-oil-vendor/evangelist preacher who wanders the plains, deserts and mountain ranges of a quasi-mythological America in search of something that can’t be easily defined, trying to find an escape-route out of a seemingly hopeless situation. The futility of it all (see also the album title) is not lost on the protagonist himself and makes for a lot of black humor in the lyrics.
But the songs don’t stick to outlaw country themes slavishly. With lyrical nods to independent actor/director Steve Buscemi, music videos by Sonic Youth and with songs inspired by ancient Persian love poetry and the “Song of Songs”, the album’s lyrics offer a wide spectrum of themes and images.

credits

released November 1, 2011

All songs written, played and recorded by Uli Rois

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all rights reserved

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about

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Bird People Wien, Austria

Bird People are a psychedelic / drone band formed in 2010 by Ulrich Rois.
Bird People shows can range from duo to nine-piece line-ups and from predominantly acoustic, folk-inspired drone to full-on noise mayhem with electric guitars and twin drum sets. ... more

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