250 LP edition.

More than half a decade into a labyrinthine discography (four 12”s, three 7”s, six tapes, four CDs and a few downloads, plus a million tracks on a million compilations), Teeside post-punk outfit Year Of Birds are about to release their new album White Death To Power Alan.

Their first as a three piece, it will be out on Odd Box (Wolfhounds, Martha, Pinkshinyultrablast) and is their most focused yet, still immersed in all the best lurching, twitching sounds of that fertile early 80s era (The Fall, of course, but also Bog-shed, A Witness, The Wolfhounds, Death by Milkfloat ) but never really sounding like anyone else. As well as being the debut as a trio, White Death To Power Alan is a first for the band in other ways: it was written with the express intention of being an album; it took more than a day to record; it was mastered by somebody outside the band – in this instance, studio ninja Anthony Chapman, who did such great work on the recent Future Of The Left and Arndales albums and is back in the newly reformed Collapsed Lung; and it has cover art by Herr Seele, the acclaimed Belgian comic book artist responsible for Cowboy Henk.

Despite all that, Year Of Birds still have a lo-fi heart: it was recorded in a practice room and spare bedroom with a £30 microphone because, as Heffernan points out, “I don’t see any difference between a band that has spent 2 months and thousands of pounds recording a song and getting it perfect, to someone who’s stuck a microphone in their kitchen and bashed out a song in five minutes – whether you like it, or hate it – they are both, in essence, the exact same thing – a recording of a song – so are therefore as valid as each other.”

Year Of Birds are: Oli Heffernan (King Champion Sounds, Shrug, Detective Instinct, Houseplants, Ivan The Tolerable) – Bass, Vocals, Guitar, Organ. Danielle Johnson (King Champion Sounds, Witch Hands.) – Drums. Paul Coates – Guitar.