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The inimitable punky rock 'n' roll trio Sleeping in the Aviary are getting ready to release their debut album, Oh, This Old Thing, on Tuesday, Feb. 6. They're throwing a release party this Friday night, one of two Madison shows before they head south and west on tour in the spring.
The last SitA show in town was an acoustic affair, with drummer Michael Sienkowski and bassist Phil Mahlstadt joining guitarist Elliot Kozel at Mother Fool's on Jan. 7 to open the latter's art show at the coffeehouse. Madison rock journalist (and Isthmus contributor) Kiki Schueler was there, capturing footage of their performance. She describes their sound in a review of the show:
Equal parts childish and intelligent, their music has the same captivating quality as bands like Neutral Milk Hotel and the Mountain Goats (and not coincidentally, those are two of my favorite bands). Speaking of the former, when introducing the last song drummer Michael Sienkowski described it as "sort of a combination of Neutral Milk Hotel and "Hotel California" before making the logical jump to calling it "Neutral Milk Hotel California." Clever...
Even unplugged and with only a bare minimum of a drum kit, they sounded really truly good. The Aviary boys are making some of the most interesting music in town, and I cannot wait to get the new CD in my hands.
The live concert video follows below.
