Birds of Chicago Self-released****

This Kickstarter-funded album shows what good taste crowd-funders have. Birds of Chicago is a collective based around JT Nero (aka Jeremy Lindsay) and Allison Russell. Nero leads the Clouds, a rising roots band, while Russell is one of the voices in the much-loved Canadian band Po'Girl. Separately they have their own strengths; together here they occasionally create something striking. The bulk of the 12 country/folk/soul tracks are written by Lindsay, and he displays a spry imagination combined with a sense of a rural idyll. But it is Russell's warm, clear, soulful voice, frequently joined by Lindsay's looser but equally affecting pipes, that make songs such as the heady opener Trampoline, the gorgeous drama of Come Morning or the chunky intimacy of Moonglow Tapeworm such a pleasure. Postscript: Birds of Chicago tour here in April. birdsofchicago.com

Download:Trampoline, Come Morning