Bowerbirds September 4, 2007

Hymns for a Dark Horse is the first album from Raleigh, N.C., trio Bowerbirds. Indicative of the music they make, Bowerbirds were born of unequal parts conflict and sweetness.

Phil Moore and Mark Paulson had moved east from Iowa to form a band, Ticonderoga. In Raleigh, Phil met Beth Tacular--a collected and published painter. Both were weary from the recent collapse of their long term relationships but saw something special in each other. Not long before Ticonderoga disinegrated on tour somewhere in Alabama, Phil and Beth moved in together.

While taking a summer job in the swamps of South Carolina, Phil and Beth painted pictures and wrote songs and sang them. They started Bowerbirds and asked Mark to join them whenever possible.

They've toured the country once in a minivan, playing small clubs and coffee shops and street corners and camping in forests and deserts beneath the stars. They live in an Airstream trailer in the woods, and they're ecstatic.

Built on the belief that our limited earth ("In Our Talons") is as sacred as the unlimited love that we can find within it ("Human Hands"), Bowerbirds make acoustic music that feels good and aware and powerful and hopeful, offering a shelter from the apathy so rampant these days.

21+
Tickets $8 http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=202976&REFERRAL_ID=tace