Bird Dog is Patrick Rees‘ first E.P. as a solo artist and boy has he started in style. The tracks on the e.p. are made up of sketches of old demos mostly written while traveling around South-East Asia in 2011 on a $20 dollar guitar that doubled as an umbrella in tropical storms. Returning to England at the beginning of 2012 he started to play around with the demos, making all the recordings himself on his laptop adding harmonies or extra parts without worrying about how he might perform them live.
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The E.P.’s sound was inspired by the lo-fi recordings of Diane Cluck, Bon Iver, early Grizzly Bear and The Tallest Man on Earth to name a few. The E.P. was named after a line in song by Diane Cluck, and written down as a possible title while on a bus in Asia. As well as being a dog for hunting, a bird dog can also refer to someone looking for someone. As Patrick was trying to find a sound for the new songs he was writing, it seemed apt.
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Bird Dog is a beautiful debut collection, the lo-fi nature of this set adds a genuine intimacy. This is the perfect late night, candle-lit musical moment. The doubling up of vocals adds a depth, which belies the realities of one man and his guitar. It’s an exciting and intriguing debut offering from a young artist.
Patrick Rees embodies the independent spirit, doing everything himself, alongside the E.P. he shot and edited the video for ‘Just Echoes’, collaborating and taking pictures for the artwork. Patrick explains “The music has been a platform for me to explore other creative projects that i’m interested in and i’d like to continue working in this way.”
Patrick is now busy working on a new set of demos and expects to release a new EP in time for summer.
