BIRDS OF TOKYO | Human Design | Album Review

Fans of Karnivool are likely to know that the band's frontman Ian Kenny also fronts the band Birds Of Tokyo. Formed in 2004 in West Australia, the band resulted as a collaboration between Ian Kenny and a member from Tragic Delicate. Comparing both of the Ian Kenny fronted projects is like comparing night to day. Where Karnivool is an alternative metal/progressive rock band with massive bodies of work, unending experimentation, and overall excellent, Birds Of Tokyo is considerably lighter and easier to digest for music fans. The band's sixth studio album "Human Design" exemplifies that fact. What separates this album from the band's other projects, though, is the fact that it is even lighter than anything they've done in the past. This album is directly inspired by a tumultuous period in the frontman's life involving his marriage. Referring to the tracks released before "Human Design" was released, the frontman stated the following: "These four singles we've released over the last 18 months have each been personal and direct in different ways... They seem to have struck deep chords with lots of people but in the first instance I was just writing words to stop myself going nuts. I could have said things better, but the result is eloquent and emotional". A good sign for any album is when it is birthed through pain caused by a tragic event in one's life. Couple that with the fact that the album is different than its predecessors in terms of style, and you get an album that feels like endless effort was put into it regardless if the end result is as fine tuned as the creator wanted it to be.

The album opens with three of the pre-release singles, "The Greatest Mistakes", "Two Of Us", and "Good Lord". Referring to Kenny's comments about the singles, these were released a long ways before the album came out with the earliest of these being in 2018, and it's a track that appears towards the end of the album entitled "Unbreakable". All of these pre-release singles reveal that the album, as a whole, is very different from previous albums as many of these feel like positive anthems. "The Greatest Mistakes" makes that clear with lyrics revolving around how the mistakes that a person makes make them who they are and how "the journey isn't over" for that person. It's a simple message, but effective, and that's what simplicity can be very good at. "Two Of Us" features a prominent soul influence and is the first instance on the album that alludes to Kenny's marriage. It's a very impactful song and it establishes the connection and experiences that romantic partners have with each other brilliantly in the lyrics. There are obviously bumps that people face in this situation, but it's the togetherness that keeps a couple entwined and in love. "Two Of Us" feels like it would be the perfect song to play at a wedding, and it has more substance to it than just a simple stock song that just so happens to be ideal in a certain situation. Ian Kenny accels vocally on both of these tracks as well, which is to be expected on an album that carries a lot of catharsis and passion throughout.

"Human Design" is one of those albums where you listen to it in its entirety and you can't help but get emotionally attached to most of it. Knowing that this is a project that was created during the tumultuous time that Ian Kenny went through, there is a ton of emotion that went into this 38-minute opus. Whether tracks on the album reference Kenny's experiences or they were tracks that he wrote to distract him from the negativity involved, "Human Design" is an experience from front to back. Tracks like "Designed", "Photo By The Lake", "Dive", "When Home Calls", and especially "My Darling My Son" feel like there's a lot of real emotion behind them, and it's an album that I can see helping someone who is experiencing hardships in their life. "Designed" is an acoustic ballad about a man who feels like he doesn't stacks up to what somebody expects of him in a relationship. "Dive" acts as a compassionate arm over the shoulder over someone who is lonely and suffering with depression. "My Darling My Son" is a coming of age song that feels like it's a father's message to his son about growing up and being a good man. "When Home Calls" is a track about someone who misses his loved ones back home as he's far away from them. Obviously, the album is inspired by the breakdown of Ian Kenny's marriage, but it's nice that he doesn't stay on that one topic for the entire album, and these moving songs are examples of that. They are all excellent, and the writing in each track is superb along with Ian Kenny's vocal delivery which is always fantastic. It's a collection of tracks rooted in real meaning, which is absent from most modern music these days.

As is the case with most albums, this isn't perfect by any means even though the weaker moments are rare to come by on "Human Design". "Good Lord" is the only track on this album that I'm not crazy about. It does fit okay with the album's theme, but it's not a track I particularly care for or would go out of my way to listen to. This is by no means a bad song, of course not, but compared to the rest of the excellent tracks on this album "Good Lord" doesn't deliver as consistently. It's only a minor complaint, because the entire album feels like there was endless effort involved in its production. Just like Karnivool has showcased how amazing they are in their field, Birds Of Tokyo have done the same thing with "Human Design". I am a huge appreciation for albums that are similar to this when it comes to the themes and inspirations behind them, especially when they're done the correct way. When albums with such a somber backstory really succeed, they get you to react emotionally towards them and that in turn causes you to be indebted towards those albums. Birds Of Tokyo have not only showcased with this album how versatile they are as a band, but they have successfully accomplished the task of making a listener feel something strong. It's an album that the world really needs right now. Overall, "Human Design" is a wildly different album for the alt-rockers of the Outback, but it's also one of their strongest and most layered releases to date. The Ian Kenny fronted band truly has something for everyone on this 10-track album, and if this is your first time coming across this band, give these birds of Australia a chance and you'll be surprised at what they'll give you.

RATING: 8/10

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