The Bridges are a North Carolina band comprised of a set of sisters, a brother, and a cousin. Brittany Painter takes lead vocals, Natalie and Stacey Byrd handle backing vocals and guitars, Jeremy Byrd keeps time behind the drums, and Isaaca Byrd rounds out on bass. It kind of makes you wonder why they chose The Bridges rather than The Byrds. I guess that name must already be taken.Limits of the Sky is the debut album from the family quintet. Produced by Matthew Sweet, it's a tremendous collection of bright medolic pop songs.
The group's songwriting demonstrates a pop sensilibility far outstripping their young age (all in their early 20s). Not since Ben Lee's debut have we seen a band show us this level of song craftsmanship right out of the shoot.
Vocals are definitely the focal point of the music. Brittany's vocals are strong and powerful. They mesh seamlessly with the backing harmonies provided by Natalie and Stacey. Like Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, The Bridges are best when all three voices are letting it loose.
The Bridges clearly benefit from Sweet's guidance. The songs are chock full of catchy melodic choruses and vocal hooks. At times you almost feel like you are listening to Girlfriend as sung from the female perspective.
Lyrically, the songs tend to be about love and relationships. Often that can become very tiresome over the course of an entire album (in this case 13 tracks). However, The Bridges' have a maturity in their lyrics which means we aren't subjected to the usual "I love you, why don't you love me back" that most songwriters inevitably fall back on.
Piano, strings, and well placed handclaps, help flesh out the band's sound, giving it a lush, full feeling to go with the near-perfect vocals. It all means there is not one song on this record that isn't thoroughly enjoyable.
If you like melody, harmony, and bouncy vocal pop, you can not go wrong with Limits of the Sky.
Best tracks: "Pieces", "Unconditional"
You can see the video for "Pieces" here.
Track listing for Limits of the Sky:
- All the Words
- One Way
- Pieces
- Runaway
- Unconditional
- One I Love
- Blue
- Echo
- Finding It Hard
- Say the Least
- Under the Sun
- Happy In Love
- Young Heart
8.5
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