Music Review // Brice Kendall "The Birdhouse"

With soft acoustics and melodies, Brice Kendall sings about "The Birdhouse", a song which can be taken in a literal sense but also carry a double meaning.   In these harmonies I can hear Jack Johnson, but it is worth noting that whenever I think of Jack Johnson I think of the "Curious George" soundtrack and, to some extent, this does feel like the type of song that could accompany an episode titled "Curious George Builds A Birdhouse".

But this song can be thought of in a different way as well, with lines such as: "Even if I lose this reality / I have found who I need".  When you're a child, there is this whole idea of you growing up and going out on your own and that can be called "leaving the nest".   If parents have all of their kids move out and feel alone they call that "empty nest syndrome".   So, we already have a lot of comparisons with birds probably because they can fly and we cannot.   Who can resist such a good metaphor as telling someone to spread their wings and fly.

As much as those ideas exist- in comparing humans with birds- they only come to that point of leaving the nest and never really talk about what comes next.   In a lot of ways, I feel like that's where this song by Brice Kendall comes in.   You leave the nest, sure, but then you find is essentially the title of the song in the birdhouse.   Now, what that birdhouse means to you can vary from person to person, just as birdhouses themselves can be out in the country or in the suburbs, but it's about finding what makes you happy.

And, in the context of this song, finding what makes you happy seems to be within other people and basically having a family that you can come home to.   That might not be for everyone though.   Maybe you want to live in a cabin in the woods and write poetry and that's okay but that can also be your birdhouse.   This song also has that sound where it could be played for children and it's okay- it's not offensive or something someone would find a reason to want to turn off.  With that in mind, I think we all need to turn it on and discover our birdhouse.