Champion Birdwatchers – Perihelion

Champion Birdwatchers
Perihelion
1996 Bionic Family Records
Hayden, Idaho, USA

Nathan Wesley Johnson – Guitar, vocals
Ryan David Johnson – Drums, gong
PJ Paul – Cello, piccolo bass, bass
Justin David Power – Bass, piccolo bass, gong holding

Side 1:

1. A Translation of Merganser Part 3: An Allegorical History of…
2. A Translation of Merganser Part 4: An Allegorical History of…

Side 2:

1. Jupiter’s Moon
2. Solid

You might have heard of Champion Birdwatchers from their full-length release The Inconsolable Longing in 1998, or from having the last song on this demo included on the Sparkler compilation. The sound here is an interesting mix of shoegaze (especially SF59 on the first track), emo, space rock, and post/math/etc rock. Of course, the mid-90s was when many of those genres had a major “purity” push, so genre-bending music like this probably got rejected by those that demanded their style sound only one way. Bionic Family Records was the same label that worked with Tom Fest and put out bands like Twin Sister. Also, the first two tracks are shortened all the way down to “Merganser3” and “Merganser 4” on the tape itself.