Soaring effortlessly through the shared airspace of rock and pop, Houston’s The Metal Byrds reach new heights on their just-released single, “Stop Motion.” Culled from their most recent EP album, Moments Before Sunrise, the track sees the hard-working band furthering their commitment to irresistible songcraft that doesn’t sacrifice an ounce of power in its quest for the ultimate singalong.
Guitarist Sly Rye peels off some Hendrixian pyrotechnics while bassist Mac Jacob and drummer Charlie “Breeze” Janto hammer out a relentless, propulsive rhythm. Over the top of it all, vocalist Suzanne Birdie applies her dual classic-rock and grunge influences to an aggressive earworm melody as infectious as the urgent lyric that accompanies it:
Stop Motion, non-stop commotion
The world’s spinning without emotion
Stop Motion, non-stop commotion
You move me
Strangely, the song was inspired by a colorful character guitarist Rye once knew who made his home in a self-storage container. One of his misadventures entitled driving to Texas at 90 miles an hour “loaded up on gold liquid” and, once he reached his destination, jumping out of the still-moving car.
“You meet a lot of interesting people when you’re in a band,” the group notes, slyly.
The video for the song is just as frenzied, with epilepsy-defying flashes of light illuminating Birdie and company as they literally leap for the sky.
“Jumping and twirling and throwing instruments around was the best time we ever could’ve had shooting a video,” they report.
Moments Before Sunrise is the sixth EP album the group has released since Birdie and Rye formed a musical partnership and personal friendship in 2018. (Jacob and Janto completed the lineup four years later.) Each new product drop has seen them continuing to pioneer a genre several DJs have termed “hard pop rock.” Listener response has been wildly positive: Of the three songs from the new EP album that have been picked up by indie radio, at least one has been in a top 10 chart at any given time.
“We’re not the typical cookie-cutter-sounding rock band, and if you listen closely, you’ll hear a sound like none other,” the group promises.
