Burnt Log’s latest LP is a collection of whimsical, mystical, and colorful alternative rock songs that sound earthen and dark, with rich traces of folk running deep across the landscape. Time Is A Heron Waiting For Prey is a distinctive sounding record that is immensely full of nuances to love.
Burnt Log is Andy Smith, a Scottish singer and songwriter from Bonnyrigg, and Time Is A Heron Waiting For Prey is the tasteful title of his latest full length studio offering. The music Burnt Log offers is unquestionably rock. With steady and powerful beats and overdriven guitars, the songs set themselves firmly in the realm of rock, but with usually expansive chord sequences, open-ended pads, and Burnt Log’s distinctive and raw vocal charisma, the music is left-field, folkish, and more often than not, progressive in ways no one can miss.
With the album’s 9 songs evenly divided between short and quick alt rock anthems, like ‘Predict The Outcome’ and ‘Ten A Penny’, and longer, sweeping, meandering, and intricate numbers such as ‘So Emotional’ and ‘To The Sea’. The production on ‘Time Is A Heron..’ is a joy to behold with drums sounding exquisitely crunchy and overdriven guitars tightly fit into the carefully assembled mixes. The mixing jobs on the albums sound lush and nuanced, dense with elements that highlight how well those songs are written, such as pronounced guitar lines or catchy beats that support Burnt Log’s artful lyricisms and his distinctive, nasal howls.
The joy of ‘Time Is A Heron..’ does not lie in its immediacy or its ability to grab the attention, but rather in how well tucked away its details are, requiring multiple listens to fully grasp the scope of the density of songs such as ‘The Gallery’, ‘The Sea And The Ice’, and ‘The Equivalent’, both reasonably challenging, long listens for the uninitiated, requiring time, concentration, and patience to fully unlock. Such formula is not easy to pull but Burnt Log is readily an expert in crafting these detailed songs that not on a single song on the album does the music sound overly saturated, too polished, bloated, or lacking an ounce in direction. A healthy collection of fascinating songs from one capable songwriter.
