Birds & Souls

Naming your first release after your band is an auspicious way to introduce oneself, to say the least, but Birds & Souls have done just that—and the results more than live up to their sensational packaging.

Birds & Souls' lead single "Birds & Souls" (from the debut Birds & Souls EP on Spectral Sound) is an exuberant track built more for rock shows than dancefloors, charting a journey from giddy, congas-and-claves house to synth-drenched space disco to ecstatic arpeggiated bliss and back again. At "Birds & Souls"' apex, Birds & Souls member Sergio Giorgini intones "My soul, it weighs a thousand pounds / touch the mountain, touch the ground"—at that moment, the duo seem everywhere at once, their feet stomping out a primal 4-on-the-floor, their heads soaring through the clouds.

B-side "Birds & Souls (Birds & Beats Version)" indulges the track's cosmic side, emphasizing repetition, atmosphere, and chanting backing vocals; while "Birds & Souls (Runaway's Mountain & Ground Remix)" sees the Brooklyn-based DJ/producers and DFA alumni drag "Birds & Souls" into the dank, half-lit gloom of a sweaty basement party, all room-consuming bass and dirty, groaning keyboard stabs.