I dare you to listen to “Generals” without tapping your feet or at least clapping your hands. There is just no fighting the urge to give into the beat, no matter how many times you listen to the single from the Mynabirds’ upcoming sophomore effort of the same name. The album’s title track, with its pulsating layers of guitars and steady bass drum backbeat, sounds like it was conceived in a garage, reminiscent of the indie garage rock wave of the early millennium that brought on minimalist groups like The White Stripes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It is, however, the Mynabirds’ command of rhythm and seductive vocals that puts Laura Burhenn’s project under the indie rock spotlight — not to mention her ties to former Bright Eyes mastermind Conor Oberst.
The Omaha-based group’s 2010 debut album What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood earned them residency under Saddle Creek, Oberst’s record label, as well as a year-long touring spot with the former Bright Eyes singer/songwriter. The politically charged “Generals” even sounds as though it was torn from one of the coffee-stained, road worn pages of an Oberst journal. With alluringly sexy vocals, Burhenn summons her female compatriots, calling out, “My Daughters / My Revolutionists / We got strength in numbers / And they’re goon’ to pay for it.” Lines like these make it seem like Burhenn has been picking the brain of good ole Conor O., while at the same time taking singing lessons from Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O., all the while churning out foot-stomping melodies.
Generals, according to Burhenn, is both a concept and a protest record. She started the band back in 2009 after finding inspiration in her favorite books and records, and Generals, with its chunky guitar riffs and politically driven lyrics, will be a thought-provoking album, lying in ambush and itching to be heard.