Fantasia

Over a thirty year period I have heard Fantasia (2020) in my bedroom on a few occasions. During each listening I witnessed several Tinder dates walk out. That is usually a good sign. There is little doubt that this experimental album (yes, Birdbath once was innovative) has unmitigated moments of lurid kitsch, with equal parts audible magic. It's a flawed masterpiece, which begs the questions: does an infallible masterpiece actually exist? Fantasia represents it's creator, Bird, as utterly possessed by obsessive, artistic, and innovative ambition. It may be one of the most stand apart EPs ever crafted, which is why, five plus years later, it still has the power to provoke dumbed-down audiences who still look at artmusic with suspicion. Simultaneously, it also annoys insufferable academic elitists who cannot find it in themselves to embrace the EP's tawdrier moments.

Includes previously bandcamp-exclusive tracks