Album: David Rotheray, The Life of Birds (Proper)

Reviewed by Nick Coleman

Sunday 15 August 2010

An album of songs very loosely joined by the avian theme.

It's an often serious, sometimes grave collection spanning the ages of man, sung by a variety of interesting voices – Kathryn Williams, Eliza Carthy, Alasdair Roberts, Camille O'Sullivan – to careful string-enhanced, acoustic arrangements. The elaboration of the writing sometimes overwhelms the song (too many sound like poetry set to music) but the intent is there to reach deep. The Beautiful South seems like a long time ago.

Suggested Topics
Arts and Entertainment
Secrets of JK Rowling's Harry Potter workings have been revealed in a new bibliography

JK Rowling bibliography reveals Potter secrets

arts + ents
Arts and Entertainment
Fearne Cotton is leaving Radio 1 after a decade

First Zane, now Fearne's jumping the Radio 1 ship

radio The popular DJ is leaving for 'family and new adventures'
Arts and Entertainment

'She'd flirted around it for years': Catwoman finally comes out as bisexual

arts + ents
Arts and Entertainment
Public Service Broadcasting are going it alone

No label? No problem: A new generation of bands are going it alone

music
Arts and Entertainment
Eddie Redmayne as transgender artist Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl

Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl

First look at Oscar winner as transgender artistfilm
Arts and Entertainment

Alejandro Iñárritu wins for Birdman

Oscars 2015 Mexican filmmaker uses speech to urge 'respect' for immigrants
Arts and Entertainment
The Oscar nominations are due to be announced today

Oscars 2015 as it happened

Oscars 2015 Bringing you all the news from the 87th Academy Awards
Have you tried new the Independent Digital Edition apps?
Arts and Entertainment

A History of The Great War in 100 Moments

ebooksNow available in paperback
Arts and Entertainment

The Great Composers: fourteen of the giants of Western classical music

ebooks
Arts and Entertainment
Lloyd-Hughes takes the leading role as Ralph Whelan in Channel 4's epic new 10-part drama, Indian Summers

Indian Summers

TV Review

The intrigue deepens as we delve further but don't expect any answers just yet
Arts and Entertainment
Jason Segal and Cameron Diaz star in Sex Tape

And the award nobody wants goes to...

Razzies 2015 Golden Raspberry Awards 'honours' Cameron Diaz and Kirk Cameron
Arts and Entertainment
The Oscars ceremony 2015 will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles

So, how well do you really know Oscar?

Oscars 2015A quiz to whet your appetite for tonight’s 87th Academy Awards
Arts and Entertainment
Sigourney Weaver, as Ripley, in Alien; critics have branded the naming of action movie network Movies4Men as “offensive” and “demographic box-ticking gone mad”.

Movies4Men featuring more Mockery4Sony

TVNaming of action movie network Movies4Men sparks outrage
Arts and Entertainment
Sleater Kinney perform at the 6 Music Festival at the O2 Academy, Newcastle

'Sleater Kinney return – and it's a powerhouse of a performance'

musicReview: 6 Music Festival
Arts and Entertainment
Sleater Kinney perform at the 6 Music Festival at the O2 Academy, Newcastle

'Sleater Kinney return – and it's a powerhouse of a performance'

musicReview: 6 Music Festival
News
Kristen Stewart reacts after receiving the Best Actress in a Supporting Role award for her role in 'Sils Maria' at the 40th annual Cesar awards

Stewart becomes first US actress to win Cesar award

people
News
A lost Sherlock Holmes story has been unearthed

Long-lost Sherlock Holmes story by Conan Doyle found

arts + ents Walter Elliot, an 80-year-old historian, found it in his attic,
Arts and Entertainment
Margot Robbie rose to fame starring alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street

Margot Robbie on slapping Leonardo DiCaprio

Film Hollywood's new leading lady talks about her Ramsay Street days
Arts and Entertainment
Right note: Sam Haywood with Simon Usborne page turning

Art of musical page turning

musicSimon Usborne discovers it is under threat from the accursed iPad
Arts and Entertainment
A life-size sculpture by Nick Reynolds depicting singer Pete Doherty on a crucifix hangs in St Marylebone church

Singer Pete Doherty is crucified - for art

arts + ents
Arts and Entertainment
Escalating tension: Tang Wei and Chris Hemsworth in ‘Blackhat’

An old-fashioned thriller with a bit of byte

filmReview: Chris Hemsworth stars as a convicted hacker in Blackhat
Arts and Entertainment

'Am I supposed to vote for a movie just because it has black people in it?'

Oscar voter speaks out

film
Arts and Entertainment
The Oscars race for Best Picture will be the battle between Boyhood and Birdman

Oscars predictions in full

Oscars
Arts and Entertainment
Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy), Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance)

Damian Lewis is so good you want to slap him

tvReview: Wolf Hall
Arts and Entertainment
Tom Meighan of Kasabian collects the Best Album Award

Kasabian clean up at NME Awards

music
Arts and Entertainment
Best supporting stylist: the late L’Wren Scott dressed Nicole Kidman in 1997

Oscars 2015: The real stars of the Academy Awards

film
Arts and Entertainment
Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey

Jamie Dornan is like a Chippendale dancer

Film

Arts and Entertainment
Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) and Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor)

Fluffed line a mystery as EastEnders comes alive

tv occurred in the crucial final scene
Arts and Entertainment
Glasgow wanted to demolish its Red Road flats last year

Tower blocks: do we love them or hate them?

architecture
Arts & Ents blogs

Crowds at Lahore Lit Fest ignore bomb risks and raise hopes for Pakistan’s future

Rolo Tomassi Interview: “It’s comforting to know that we’ve not been treated as a novelty”

Goblin’s Claudio Simonetti on Profondo Rosso reaching the big 4-0

Latest stories from i100

independent images

Have you tried new the Independent Digital Edition apps?
SPONSORED FEATURES

Crowdfunding: The end-end solution for business success.

Calling all entrepreneurs! See how crowdfunding can provide you with a full-circle, end to end solution for your business.

Prizes & offers Business videos

Enter the latest Independent competitions

Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.

Crowdfunding Business videos

Business videos from commercial thought leaders

Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.

Crowdfunding Prizes & offers

ES Rentals

    Independent Dating
    and  

    By clicking 'Search' you
    are agreeing to our
    Terms of Use.

    HIV pill: Scientists hail discovery of 'game-changer' that cuts the risk of infection among gay men by 86%

    Scientists hail daily pill that protects against HIV infection

    Breakthrough in battle against global scourge – but will the NHS pay for it?
    How we must adjust our lifestyles to nature: Welcome to the 'Anthropocene', the human epoch

    Time to play God

    Welcome to the 'Anthropocene', the human epoch where we may need to redefine nature itself
    MacGyver returns, but with a difference: Handyman hero of classic 1980s TV series to be recast as a woman

    MacGyver returns, but with a difference

    Handyman hero of classic 1980s TV series to be recast as a woman
    Tunnel renaissance: Why cities are hiding roads down in the ground

    Tunnel renaissance

    Why cities are hiding roads underground
    'Backstreet Boys - Show 'Em What You're Made Of': An affectionate look at five middle-aged men

    Boys to men

    The Backstreet Boys might be middle-aged, married and have dodgy knees, but a heartfelt documentary reveals they’re not going gently into pop’s good night
    Crufts 2015: Should foreign dogs be allowed to compete?

    Crufts 2015

    Should foreign dogs be allowed to compete?
    10 best projectors

    How to make your home cinema more cinematic: 10 best projectors

    Want to recreate the big-screen experience in your sitting room? IndyBest sizes up gadgets to form your film-watching
    Manchester City 1 Barcelona 2 player ratings: Luis Suarez? Lionel Messi? Joe Hart? Who was the star man?

    Manchester City vs Barcelona player ratings

    Luis Suarez? Lionel Messi? Joe Hart? Who was the star man at the Etihad?
    Arsenal vs Monaco: Monaco - the making of Gunners' manager Arsene Wenger

    Monaco: the making of Wenger

    Jack Pitt-Brooke speaks to former players and learns the Frenchman’s man-management has always been one of his best skills
    Cricket World Cup 2015: Chris Gayle - the West Indies' enigma lives up to his reputation

    Chris Gayle: The West Indies' enigma

    Some said the game's eternal rebel was washed up. As ever, he proved he writes the scripts by producing a blistering World Cup innings
    In Ukraine a dark world of hybrid warfare and murky loyalties prevails

    In Ukraine a dark world of hybrid warfare

    This war in the shadows has been going on since the fall of Mr Yanukovych
    'Birdman' and 'Bullets Over Broadway': Homage or plagiarism?

    Homage or plagiarism?

    'Birdman' shares much DNA with Woody Allen's 'Bullets Over Broadway'
    Broadchurch ends as damp squib not even David Tennant can revive

    A damp squib not even David Tennant can revive

    Broadchurch, Series 2 finale, review
    A Koi carp breeding pond, wall-mounted iPads and a bathroom with a 'wellness' shower: inside the mansion of Germany's 'Bishop of Bling'

    Inside the mansion of Germany's 'Bishop of Bling'

    A Koi carp breeding pond, wall-mounted iPads and a bathroom with a 'wellness' shower