Two music fanatics. Two epic albums. One awesome swap.

I traded my copy of The Tallest Man on Earth‘s album Dark Bird is Home with Ms. Bohlke for her copy of Phish‘s album Farmhouse.

Here is what I had to say about Farmhouse:

I have never listened to Phish. Honestly, I thought Phish was a punk rock band.

When I slipped the CD Ms. Bohlke gave me into my car’s stereo, I was quite nervous. “Farmhouse,” the first and title track, started playing and I was hooked. I have never heard of cluster flies either!

After I listened to “Farmhouse,” I was not very impressed with the rest of the album. “Twist” was nothing special and was followed by “Bug,” my least favorite song of the album.

The next two songs, “Back on the Train” and “Heavy Things,” were decent. The two were catchy and upbeat, but did not feel full.

The sixth song was awesome! “Gotta Jibboo” makes no sense but it is so much fun to sing and dance too! The song repeats the lyrics “Mama sing sing when she gotta jibboo/Papa sing gotta jibboo” over and over again, but Phish makes it work.

Next on the track listing was “Dirt.” This slower song reminded me a lot of the song “Crazy Life” by Toad the Wet Sprocket, another 90’s band.

“Sleep” was a bittersweet song for me. I enjoyed the music and guitar style a lot, but Troy Anastasio’s singing did not cut it for me. His voice sounds great in fast and upbeat songs, but in slow lullaby-like songs it just sounds a bit creepy.

Next was “The Inlaw Josie Wales,” which was musical bliss. The music was phenomenal and I absolutely loved listening to the guitars. Similarly, I really liked the last track, “First Tube.” It was a bit psychedelic, which did not fit in very well with the rest of the album, but it was worth it!

This album was good. It was not awful, but it was not great. Phish sprinkled this album with some tremendous songs and sounds, but balanced it out with some not-so-tremendous tracks.

I would recommend this song to folk rock and 90’s rock fans!

Here is what Ms. Bohlke had to say about Dark Bird is Home:

When Regina Trejo asked me if I wanted to do an album swap with her for Crown, I had this picture in my head of the two of us physically exchanging CDs. So, I was surprised when Regina just told me the name of an album to look up. Apparently at 28, I’m already archaic because I listen to CDs.

Recently, I moved to Darien (about 33 miles south west of Regina Dominican). I don’t have enough data on my plan to stream music or gigs of memory on my phone to download songs, so on the hour plus drive home from work, I like to listen to CDs.

Luckily, Regina was able to find a CD and brush the dust off before trading it with me.

The album that Regina gave me is Dark Bird is Home by The Tallest Man on Earth. This man is not really the tallest man on Earth. According to Wikipedia, his name is actually Kristian Matsson, and he is from Sweden.

I was able to listen to the whole album in one trip from Regina Dominican to my house. The following are a few of my thoughts…

Track 1: Fields of Our Home
This guy has a pretty unique and interesting voice. I love the ending of the song. The distant harmonies are haunting.

Track 2: Darkness of the Dream
I don’t know how to feel about this song. The tempo makes me happy, but the lyrics make me sad.

Track 3: Singers
This is a pretty song. It makes me feel relaxed.

Track 4: Slow Dance
With the title of this song, I was expecting it to be slower. This song is upbeat and fun.

Track 5: Little Nowhere Towns
I really like the lyrics to this song.

Track 6: Sagres
I’m finding myself humming along to this melody.

Track 7: Timothy
Another catchy melody.

Track 8: Beginners
This song has a blue-grassy feel. I think it’s my favorite one on the album.

Track 9: Seventeen
This song makes me think of my students.

Track 10: Dark Bird is Home
Beautifully sad song.

Overall, I really enjoyed this album. The lyrics were deep and the melodies were thoughtful. While Matsson has a very interesting voice, I preferred the songs where he sang in harmony with others rather than solo.

I would recommend this album to anyone, and I’m glad that Regina asked me to swap albums with her!