It’s hard to keep up with Dylan Hicks. The man is no spring chicken and he’s still moving around our scene like a wide-eyed, enthusiastic rookie. Hicks is dropping a new album on August 12 called Avian Field Recordings with his group Small Screens and it’s another great set of tunes with inspired support from some of the strongest players in our scene. Dylan was kind enough to share some of the recordings in advance with us and I was immediately taken with the tune “Your Famous Footsteps.” The tune gives me a very Laurel Canyon meets Allen Ginsberg vibe (aka early Steely Dan) with a moral conscience. Musically the slow-moving piece features many great performances including a ‘verbed out drum take from Pete Hennig on drums, Chris Thomson floating above it all on sax and Michelle Kinney turning in an inspired solo on the cello.
Throughout the tune we are anchored by Dylan Hicks’ great narrative and soulful delivery. For now, Hicks is going to fly this release a bit below the radar with no big party planned. But don’t let the casual spirit of the release make you think it’s not worth your time! The tunes are full of great work from Hicks and his band and I’m excited to share more tunes in the coming months from the release.
-Sean McPherson
