Bird by Snow is Fletcher Tucker. Often times, it is also Spencer Owen. And sometimes, it is even more people. ?Antlers and The Sun and All The Things That Grow Old and Pass Away? was recorded at Tucker?s home over the past winter, and its kind of a shame they released this album in April. As good as it sounds when the weather is warm, ?Antlers and the Sun? is a winter album.

After starting off with a organetta introduction, the first song ?Exhaling Lungs? is folky-but-not-folk acoustic balladry. The guitar is simple, and the vocals have a strong yet vulnerable sound similar to Little Wings. ?Great Glower and Gloam? follows a similar pattern, but on the 3rd song, ?Sea Lion?, things get really interesting. An instrumental that features the un-jazziest alto saxophone playing I?ve ever heard, ?Sea Lion? is a delightful curveball that leads into the album?s homerun.

?Fat New Born Baby? continues the K Records influence, but this time it?s the Microphones. The politely propulsive drumming and autoharp touches put this song in line with the Microphones work circa ?The Glow pt. 2? and the songwriting is as good or better than anything Phil Elvrum has done in the past 5 years. ?Fat New Born Baby? sticks out by being the sole upbeat song. It?s a summer song and the album?s highlight.

The B-side kicks off with a lengthy track that has a near free-folk feel. It sounds like Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice doing a pop song. The following two tracks continue the straight-folk sound of the first half of the A-side, but with banjo rather than guitar as the lead. The album finishes with the dark and wonderful title track. It?s another folk song, but this time Tucker adds in some tape loops of unidentifiable found sounds which fit perfectly with the song?s sense of wintry depression.

So, download ?Fat New Born Baby? from the band?s website and put it on your ?Summer Jams 2K6? mix. If you buy the album (it?s limited to 300 LPs and all his previous releases have sold out, so you might want to hurry), wait till the leaves have fallen before your put it on your turntable. 8/10 -- Ed Corcoran (27 June, 2006)