Rare Birds (album)

Last updated
Rare Birds
Rare Birds Album Cover.png
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 2, 2018 (2018-03-02)
StudioFive Star Studios
Length78:44
Label Bella Union
Producer Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson chronology
Slide By
(2014)
Rare Birds
(2018)
Dixie Blur
(2020)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic? 7.3/10 [1]
Metacritic 74/100 [2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [3]
American Songwriter Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Dork Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Exclaim! 7/10 [6]
God Is in the TV 9/10 [7]
The Independent Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [8]
The Line of Best Fit 8/10 [9]
The Observer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Under the Radar 5.5/10 [11]

Rare Birds is the third studio album by American musician and producer Jonathan Wilson. It was released on March 2, 2018 under Bella Union. [12]

Contents

Production

The album was self-produced by Wilson at his Five Star Studios, with Jeffertitti Moon  ; in Echo Park, Los Angeles. [12] [13]

Release

On December 5, 2017, Jonathan Wilson revealed the new album to be released on Bella Union on March 2, 2018. The album has appearances by Lana Del Rey, Laraaji and Father John Misty. [12] The first single to be released from the album, "Over The Midnight" is directed by Andrea Nakhla. [13]

Critical reception

Rare Birds was met with "generally favorable" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 74, based on 13 reviews. [2] Aggregator Album of the Year gave the release a 74 out of 100 based on a critical consensus of 12 reviews. [14]

Thom Jurek from AllMusic explained that the album "is dizzying in ambition and (mostly) dazzling in execution. It offers hours of enjoyment to anyone who takes it on. It's sprawling at nearly 80 minutes, and lavishly packaged.". [3] Andy Gill from The Independent stated: "The lush opacity becomes claustrophobic over his eighty-minute default track length: though frequently sweet and beautiful, one’s ultimately left like Heliogabalus, drowned in rose petals.". [8]

Accolades

Accolades for Rare Birds
PublicationAccoladeRank
Glide MagazineGlide Magazine's Top 20 Albums of 2018
N/A [15]
OOR OOR's Top 20 Albums of 2018
18 [16]
Uproxx Uproxx' Top 50 Albums of 2018 – Mid-Year
41 [17]

Track listing

Rare Birds track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Trafalgar Square" (featuring Jessica Wolfe and Holly Laessig)6:23
2."Me"4:49
3."Over the Midnight" (featuring Krystle Warren)8:15
4."There's A Light" (featuring Jessica Wolfe and Holly Laessig)4:57
5."Sunset Boulevard" (featuring Omar Velasco)5:44
6."Rare Birds" (featuring Jessica Wolfe, Holly Laessig and Omar Velasco)5:25
7."49 Hair Flips" (featuring Father John Misty and Krystle Warren)5:11
8."Miriam Montague" (featuring Father John Misty)4:41
9."Loving You" (featuring Laraaji)8:28
10."Living With Myself" (featuring Lana Del Rey)6:46
11."Hard To Get Over"6:32
12."Hi-Ho The Righteous"6:06
13."MulHolland Queen"5:21

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