(self-released, digital)
For a brief period in 2017 and 2018, current music teacher and Middlebury College graduate Tevan Goldberg penned a political column for the Middlebury Campus called “Sharp Left.” Equal parts passionate and idealistic, the five-part series presents Goldberg as well read, snarky and eager to dismantle dominant structures.
It was no passing fancy. Goldberg is currently the projects director at Burlington nonprofit Democracy Creative, a design studio focused on participatory government, citizen engagement and empowerment. Its South End meeting space regularly holds Thought Club, a weekly neo-salon that delves into Marxism, climate action and other socially conscious topics.
All this gives listeners a deeper context in which to understand Goldberg’s work with the eclectic Queen City five-piece Red Heron — and even the rock band’s punny name. Though Bandcamp explains that moniker as a “fictional bird-like entity,” I like to think “Red Heron” refers to the bandleader’s associations with socialism and a desire to untangle its tenets from the stigma the word carries. I’m reminded of something Tim Curry’s Wadsworth says in the film Clue: “Communism was just a red herring.”
Red Heron’s debut EP, Nobirdy, is five tracks of breezy ’70s soft rock revival, incorporating shades of gospel, country, blues and jazz and flourishes of psychedelia. Recorded live at Burlington’s Tank Recording Studio with coproprietor Ben Collette, Nobirdy is a nimble first outing.
The equally literary and folksy opener, “A Musical Instrument,” tells the tale of “the great god Pan,” whose creation of the panpipe heralded eons of rustic musical tradition. As a Harvard Divinity School dropout, Goldberg is understandably interested in how humans’ creation of deities intersects with the arts. With a reverent tone, Red Heron fuse old-time Americana storytelling with a laid-back groove. The starkness of picked acoustic guitars and a solitary drum softens as a buttery organ slides in.
The next track, “Sylvia,” is pure nostalgia. Like a stripped-down, lightly countrified tribute to the ambling “Easy” by the Commodores, the song features swung beats and syncopated keys that envelop Goldberg’s impassioned vocal performance. Could it be an ode to poet Sylvia Plath? Nature references abound, as in Plath’s work, and Goldberg sings of the title character’s tragic death.
Another slow jam, “Shadow on the Wall,” ruminates on existential themes. “Guess it didn’t really matter much at all / Those heartaches and carnivals after the fall,” Goldberg croons, assigning as much meaning to joy as to pain. Later, he declares, “Sky, oh sky / Look what you brought / Man, oh man / Look what you wrought,” tacitly drawing connections between what the natural world has given humanity and, perhaps, how badly we screwed it up.
Charming and chameleonic, Red Heron create accessible music with thoughtful, erudite lyrics that stir curiosity without being alienating.
Nobirdy is available at redheron1.bandcamp.com and on all major streaming platforms.
This article appears in May 3-9, 2023.
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