Aaron Strumpel apparently has animals living inside him.
His 2009 album, Elephants, released the heavier ones. Now Birds opens another part of his musical anatomy and lets a considerably less predictable flock escape.
The result is not polite background music designed to disappear beneath a church lobby conversation.
Birds sounds alive, restless and occasionally one loose floorboard away from falling apart. That instability is part of its appeal.
Aaron Strumpel’s Birds Refuses to Sit Still
Strumpel builds the album from acoustic guitars, rough-edged vocals, percussion, trumpet and performances that retain their human fingerprints.
The songs can feel fragile one moment and unruly the next.
Rather than smoothing every sound into place, Strumpel allows the arrangements to creak, breathe and collide. His voice strains when the song calls for strain. Instruments enter with enough force to make the room feel smaller.
It is worship music without the protective coating.
That does not mean the album rejects beauty. It simply finds beauty in places that sound used, weathered and honest.
Scripture Without a Museum Display Case
The 12-song collection draws from Scripture without turning every track into a neatly packaged lesson.
“Sixty One” reflects the language and promises of Isaiah 61. “Grandma” wrestles with death and hope. Elsewhere, the songs move through desire, fear, healing, love and the unfinished work taking place inside the human heart.
Strumpel does not approach those subjects from a safe distance.
The songs sound lived in.
That distinction gives Birds much of its spiritual weight. Scripture is not treated like decoration placed around otherwise ordinary songs. It supplies the language through which confusion, affection and hope can speak to one another.
Sometimes they speak calmly.
Sometimes the birds start knocking things over.
An Album Worth Hearing From Beginning to End
Birds was produced and engineered by Strumpel, Todd Fadel and David Wilton. The album also features contributions from Laurie Thornton, Tim Thornton, Karla Adolphe, Robin Pasley, LaTifah Phillips and Kate Hurley.
The full collection lasts a little more than 37 minutes, but it covers a surprising amount of emotional and musical ground.
There are shorter transitional pieces alongside fully developed folk songs. Some tracks arrive gently. Others sound as though they have been waiting impatiently for someone to open the cage.
Stream Aaron Strumpel’s Birds below, then purchase the album directly from the artist through Bandcamp or listen through Apple Music.
Listen to Birds in full below.