Review: Birth – Born

Style: Psychedelic Progressive Rock (clean vocals)
Review by: Will
Country: USA-CA
Release date: 15 July 2022

Break out your bell bottoms and tie-dyes, put on your finest pair of platforms and gather round. Birth is beginning back in the ‘70s with their first album Born. Formed from the remnants of psychedelic prog band Astra which released two albums c. 2009, Birth has managed to hold on to their old incarnation’s psychedelic and spiritual aesthetic while channeling a more classic prog sound.

From opening fanfare on title track ‘Born’ right through to the closing number ‘Long Way Down’, the band’s ‘70s prog influences and psychedelic aesthetic are incredibly clear: King Crimson in some of the more introspective songs like the excellent single ‘For Yesterday’ (which owes a lot to ‘Epitaph’); early Yes in some of the more experimental jazz-fusion sections found muttered across the album; and Van Der Graaf Generator’s flair for the dramatic and artistic on tracks like ‘Cosmic Tears’.

Indeed, it would be possible to fill pages and pages of breakdowns of how Birth’s tracks reference or draw influence from various classic giants of prog: a delicate cymbals-fill that sounds like it could have been written by Michael Giles, a keys solo that could have been out of Yes, etc, etc. As such, the main draw for this album is how unabashedly, sumptuously ‘70s it sounds: Full, warm guitar tones with a hint of reverb; unhurried song pacing to allow the listener to smell the flowers on the way; sprawling song structures that don’t hesitate to meander or veer in terms of tones and volume; clean vocals following interesting and often unpredictable melodies; this album has it all and more.

A critical question is raised when bands are so heavily saturated in their influences as Birth are, which is: why listen to this album rather than listening to any of the albums that influenced them? This is a fair question and some listeners might find themselves reaching for In The Court of the Crimson King instead. But Birth manages to amalgamate their various influences into something fresh while simultaneously being steeped in nostalgia. Though the music is heavily influenced by the ‘70s, they sidestep the trap of falling into longing for the ‘70s Social commentary in lyrics like ‘For Yesterday’ and ‘Long Way Down’ which give the album a root in the here-and-now rather than wishing for a time long passed. This is a ‘70s album written in the 2020s, not an album from 2020 that wishes it was in the ‘70s.

Born by Birth is a gorgeous sounding album – an homage to classic psychedelic progressive rock, beautifully executed, that will have you reaching for that paisley shirt in no time.

Recommended tracks: For Yesterday
Recommended for fans of: I mean: ’70s prog. Also Motorpsycho.
You may also like: Diagonal, Elder, Wobbler
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram |

Label: Bad Omen Records – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook

Birth is:

– Conor Riley – Vocals, synthesizer, electric piano, organ, acoustic guitar
– Brian Ellis- Guitar, electric piano, percussion
– Trevor Mast – Bass

– Paul Marrone – Drums