In the two years since their widely heralded debut Pillow Talk, Wild Child, the seven-piece Austin-grown band helmed by lead vocalists and co-founders Alexander Beggins and Kelsey Wilson has hit the road hard, generating a groundswell of critical support and adulation from an increasingly fervent fan base. So successful were the Children in that endeavor, that they secured Ben Kweller as producer of their upcoming LP The Runaround and funded its recording via a Kickstarter campaign.
It is those types of decisions however, that require putting a lot of money where your mouths are. In the case of the recently released “Crazy Bird” however, its fair to say that Wild Child has made it rain. Hard.
A rollicking drive through their distinctly carved niche of rootsy pop-folk, “Crazy Bird” is a new-ish sound built on the back of Wild Child’s tried-and-true talent. Subtle strings, fantastic harmonies from Beggins and Wilson, a catchy, whistling hook, and effervescent horn riffs elevate the track beyond what might otherwise be a crowded field of male/female vocal pairings and their respective singles and make for a catchy, sing-along, toe-tapper unlike many things you’ve heard of late.
Whether the boisterous sound of “Crazy Bird” is owed more to Kweller, the band, or even the pressure that comes with making sure that your fan-funded record is a good one is largely irrelevant. “Crazy Bird” is not the track that announces Wild Child’s emergence onto the larger scene, but it may very well be the one that validates it. If Wild Child went to the well that is their fans in order to make The Runaround happen, “Crazy Bird” is the kind of track that makes sure that well never runs dry.
Check out “Crazy Bird” below, and be sure to keep an eye out for the band this fall, as they continue their tour through the South and Midwest in the months ahead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd8CarxImj81
The Runaround drops October 8th and you can listen to “Crazy Bird” on SoundCloud too.
