Two Dark Birds

Two Dark Birds is an American rock band based on Pakatakan Mountain in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist Steve Koester, formerly of Punchdrunk, also writes and performs with the group Maplewood.
History
In 2007, Koester formed Two Dark Birds with drummer Jason Mills and guitarist/singer/engineer Don Piper. The band released its debut on Vfib Recordings in 2008. The band calls the music “American Soul” and with traces of Neil Young’s On the Beach and the Band’s Music from Big Pink, and echoes of Dylan, Bill Withers, and the Meat Puppets, that label certainly seems to fit. The debut album was mixed by Joel Hamilton. The record received some great reviews. The Big Takeover called it “one of this year’s most subdued and moving releases.” Men’s Vogue called it “a masterful soundtrack to self-reflection.” The album also featured contributions from members of The Wrens, Guster, Maplewood, and The Hold Steady. In 2009, Two Dark Birds recorded a song for an Esopus Magazine compilation based on the Guy Maddin film “The Saddest Music in the World.” Spring 2009 saw the band returning to the studio to start work on their second album.
In 2011, the band released its second album, Songs for the New, on Riot Bear Recording Co. Produced by Steve Koester and Jason Mills, and recorded by Don Piper, the album featured the addition of Jude Webre on bass and Ben Wildenhaus (formerly of Federation X) on keyboards. From Chronogram Magazine's review: ”Two Dark Birds embrace the rich Catskill Roots Music template; Songs for the New abounds with sonic nods to The Band, Van Morrison’s Tupelo Honey, and the epic gestures of Mercury Rev. Fuzzy keyboards and fingerpicked acoustics rub against violins and horns, and then it’s just Koester and Co. unplugged, offering a one-two punch of loss and exuberance over the metallic caress of a dobro. From barnburner to ballad, the full-grown men in Two Dark Birds execute these tunes with edgy intensity and hard-won grace.” In 2012, they released Black Blessed Night EP, a companion EP to the album, featuring alternate versions and alternate mixes of several of the songs from 'Songs for the New.'
In 2017, the band returned with Bow, its third album. Recorded in Woodstock, NY with producer/engineer Chris Maxwell, Bow was written and performed by Steve Koester with the assistance of a group of Catskill musicians, including Jeff Lipstein, Josh Roy Brown, Marco Benevento, Carrie Bradley, Sibel Finn, Don Piper and Jason Mills. Bow is a cycle of songs about openings and awakenings, about the spirit of nature and the nature of spirit. “Bow, the latest luminous and ambitious collection of poet-grade and quietly experimental folk music written by Steve Koester and performed by his loose assemblage of Catskill cronies... Spartan and more tense. With Maxwell, Koester has crafted a narrative and sonic environment in which anything can happen; but this time out, things are snakier and darker... one begins to see the outline of a new, progressive Catskill sound of sorts. All hail!” - HV1

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