Listen: Bowerbirds' 'Beneath Your Tree'

Bowerbirds

Credit: Nick Helderman

It's only taken three years, but Carolinian roots band Bowerbirds are starting to get their due.

Signed to ever-awesome indie Dead Oceans, this duo mixes organic instrumentation with beautiful, natural lyricism. Choppy acoustic guitar bits, played on a classical six-string, intermingle with accordion, a bass-drum, vocoder and whatever other simple instruments the crew has lying around.

Bowerbirds' "Hymns For A Dark Horse" -- self-released in 2007 and re-released in 2008 -- was a triumph in its simplicity and message. These were pop songs that questioned humans' destruction of the earth and extolled the beauty of nature.

"Upper Air," its follow-up due July 7, promises no less and offers even more -- arrangements, challenging vocal parts, expanded themes. Below, listen to "Beneath Your Tree," the first single from the set. In it, Phil Moore gets vicious with his strumming, as multi-instrumentalist Beth Moore finally gives a vocal performance that rivals Moore's.

Bowerbirds, who tour as a quartet, are hitting the road this summer. Do not miss them, lest ye hate thyself.