Yes Nearby by The Ragbirds

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World Fusion | like Ani

12 tracks | 52 minutes

Released Jul 2005
on The Ragbirds

Click for a 30-second preview. All tracks are 192kbps high fidelity sound quality. Protected WMA $0.77 or unprotected MP3 $0.88.

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sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:12 Low Flying lyrics BUY MP3 04:12 Low Flying lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:12 Low Flying

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:58 Loves Great Joke lyrics BUY MP3 03:58 Loves Great Joke lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:58 Loves Great Joke

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:09 Narcissick lyrics BUY MP3 04:09 Narcissick lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:09 Narcissick

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 05:28 Picture lyrics BUY MP3 05:28 Picture lyrics "GIFT MP3" 05:28 Picture

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:09 Tipi Baya lyrics BUY MP3 04:09 Tipi Baya lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:09 Tipi Baya

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:33 Door in the wall lyrics BUY MP3 04:33 Door in the wall lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:33 Door in the wall

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:29 Totem Pole lyrics BUY MP3 04:29 Totem Pole lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:29 Totem Pole

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 05:38 Adoration lyrics BUY MP3 05:38 Adoration lyrics "GIFT MP3" 05:38 Adoration

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:20 Enemy lyrics BUY MP3 02:20 Enemy lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:20 Enemy

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:35 Believe It lyrics FREE 03:35 Believe It lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:35 Believe It

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 05:02 Holy Kiss lyrics BUY MP3 05:02 Holy Kiss lyrics "GIFT MP3" 05:02 Holy Kiss

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:48 Wake the Birds lyrics BUY MP3 04:48 Wake the Birds lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:48 Wake the Birds

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An engaging mix of world music influenced pop, fol-rock, reggae, with African, Middle Eastern, and Indian rhythms stirred with a Celtic fiddlers bow and soaring lush vocal harmonies. "This is evidence of the best of what independent pop music has to offer

Editorial review

Yes Nearby is the debut album by Ann Arbor Michigan's Ragbirds. Led by multi-instrumentalist songwriter and vocalist Erin Zindle, the Ragbirds have literally nothing in common with their city's long-standing garage rock or experimental traditions. Zindle is a boundless songwriter: she simply writes what she hears regardless of genre classification or what's happening on the "current" music scene. What is immediately striking about these proceedings is their consistency and wide-ranging creativity. Over 12 songs, Zindle and her Ragbirds -- as well as a host of other friends and collaborators -- search for the heart of the song and use everything at their disposal to give it a voice. Her violin caresses and careens; drums, hand percussion, and handclaps weave through the bottom ends of her songs to give them weight, depth, dimension, and heat. These tomes are created from trace elements of poetry, American and British Isles folk traditions, country, reggae, blues, jazz, pop and rock, without any conscious fusing of disparate elements. Fans of Bruce Cockburn's world music-oriented work from the late 1970s on; Over the Rhine at their most adventurous; M?rta Sebesty?n and Muzsikas, and the more melodic music of Lisa Germano will be drawn in, indeed mesmerized by this debut. The set opens with "Low Flying," where a darbukka, hand percussion, and Zindle's droning violin usher in a taut melody that is almost chant-like in its circularity, providing a solid frame for her poignant lyrics, sung in a clear relaxed contralto. The deep yet folksy reggae groove of "Narcissick," is fueled by Todd Perkins' insistent yet bare-bones bassline that undergirds the guitars and percussion. Zindle offers a moral compass by using the first person to communicate soul sickness in full weedy flower. A slippery gypsy violin winds itself sensually and mournfully around hand drums and a ringing mandolin in "Picture," and offers a portrait of attachment and lovesickness that is deeply moving -- and instructive. The Eastern modal groove in "Totem Pole" touches Turkish, Armenian, and Bulgarian folk musics in its melancholy articulation that opens itself up to hope as mandolin, guitars, and violin are kissed by dumbek and shekere. The droning Yemenite modality of "Adoration" would not have been out of place on Peter Gabriel's Passion album had it contained vocals. It's haunting and full of a nearly erotic longing for union with the Divine. In sharp contrast, the countrified, near-whimsical joy in "Believe It," is open, full of sky and sun with its slippery accordion and meld of strummed acoustic and distorted, roaring electric guitars underlining a personal manifesto. "Holy Kiss," carried by a lilting piano, is a sacred love song. In its body, desire, brokenness, and searing honesty are carried in the grain of Zindle's voice to an Other (stood proxy for by the listener) who is both blessed and humbled by this naked offering of truth, spirit, and vulnerability. Yes Nearby is a rare first step, for the poetic intensity of its focus, the high quality of its musicianship, and the quiet, yet near-astonishing precision of its songwriting. It marks a musical terrain where spirit and flesh, the sacred and profane, the moral and the ambiguous come together in an intoxicating, instructive dance of truth and beauty in everyday life. This is evidence of the very best of what contemporary, independent pop music has to offer. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Bio / Background

The Ragbirds began with songwriter and vocalist Erin Zindle and percussionist Randall Moore as they searched to create fresh original songs sprouting out of their love for world music and their desire to weave these distant sounds into more familiar genres. With the addition of guitarist/vocalist Matthew Melody, percussionist Tim Dziekan, and their new bassist Dan Hildebrandt who share the vision of creating honest, creative music combining these global and local elements, The Ragbirds fully realized their sound. In April 2005, The Ragbirds released their debut CD, Yes Nearby, an independent, full-length album consisting of 12 well-crafted songs. The CD continues to garner critical acclaim & was nominated for a Detroit Music Award. In January of 2006 The Ragbirds followed up with "Catching Fire" a live album recorded in their hometown of Ypsilanti MI.