Birds Of Avalon
Raleigh NC’s BIRDS OF AVALON was formed after newly-wed guitarists, Paul Siler and Cheetie Kumar, split from The Cherry Valence to join forces with vocalist, Craig Tilley, and avid 4-tracker, David Mueller. They later enlisted their favorite Chapel Hill drummer and mural artist, Scott Nurkin and quickly made a name for themselves with relentless touring in support of their ’07 debut, Bazaar Bazaar, and last year’s follow-up EP, Outer Upper Inner.
BIRDS OF AVALON wrote and recorded almost two-dozen new songs during a six-month break from touring. Following the session, the band found itself back home wanting to write and record additional material instead of getting back on the road as they usually would.
The band dubbed these recordings Uncanny Valley, after a theory which was introduced by Japanese roboticist, Masahiro Mori, in 1970 to describe the phenomena by which human beings become more unsettled by robots or other human facsimiles in direct proportion to how lifelike they appear. This sense of uncomfortable strangeness can sometimes develop between the creator and what they create - a sudden vertigo that arises as, in this case, a song takes on a life of it’s own. With Uncanny Valley, BIRDS OF AVALON embrace this sensation by capturing new material as it arises, taking advantage of analog limitations in today’s digital recording age.
