Over the past twenty years or so, Denton, TX, a suburb of Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex has developed a reputation as the home of a burgeoning and eccentric indie rock scene with bands such as Bowling for Soup, Neon Indian, The Riverboat Gamblers, Snarky Puppy and others claiming the small town as a home base at some point. And with the release of their debut effort, Snaps, the Denton, TX-based quartet Birds of Night quickly became one of North Texas’ preeminent bands; in fact, their sophomore effort, We’re a Family Now was named as one of the best DFW releases of 2013 by Central Track. Over the past couple of years, the band has slowly built up a burgeoning national presence by opening for the likes of Mac DeMarco, Thee Oh Sees, Diarrhea Planet, The Love Language and Futurebirds. 

During that time, the band also went through a lineup change in which the band’s founding members Andrew Rothlisberger (vocals, guitar) and Brooks Martin (bass) enlisted Jon Aisner (drums) and Alex Adams (guitar) to join the band. The current lineup recognized an immediate creative chemistry and began working on the material that would wind up comprising their soon-to-be released, self-titled, third album – material that was written, played live and revised (when necessary) over the course of a year. 

Reportedly, the album, which was produced by Midlake’s McKenzie Smith takes a wide and meandering path through a variety of influences and serves as a change in sonic direction for the band. And a s you’ll hear on album single “Dark,” the Denton-based quartet’s sound is cleaner, speaker and definitively post-modern as it’s comprised of angular bass chords and slashing, angular guitar chords that are reminiscent of both Joy Division and strangely enough, Kings of Leon, as it has a extremely danceable, arena rock friendly vibe, thanks in part to the song’s percussive feel – but just underneath the slick surface is a gritty, bluesy rock core that sounds prototypically Texan.