Dave Vettraino – A Bird Shaped Shadow

Regardless of whether Dave Vettraino’s name rings a bell, there’s a solid chance he’s pulled strings behind a record you love. The Chicago-based audio engineer and multi-instrumentalist has spent nearly 15 years operating the console, producing albums from the likes of Deeper, Melkbelly, and Lala Lala. He has also mixed records for Dehd, Ducks Ltd., and Wombo. This led him to a role with International Anthem Recording Company: he engineers for artists across the celebrated jazz imprint, including jaimie branch, Makaya McCraven and Resavoir. In spite of this busy schedule, Vettraino manages to be more than an in-the-background studio heavyweight. Eponymously, he crafts blossoming compositions that embody his quietly expansive role at the intersection of so many of Chicago’s musical currents.

Vettraino found his footing as a member of scrappy post-punk act The Hecks, in which he gigged from 2015 to 2019. Sculpting left-field cuts in the studio by day and getting scuzzy at Empty Bottle or The Hideout by night, he began gravitating towards ambient in his time away from work with other artists; after so many angular, distorted performances, he wished to channel harmonic stillness. This quest for beauty yielded Vettraino’s 2020 solo debut, Exercise, issued by New York City institution Fire Talk Records. “It was mostly just a bedroom experiment,” he reflects. Withdrawn, yet impressively realized, the record could pass for a forgotten gem from Drag City’s ‘90s prime.

A Bird Shaped Shadow — Vettraino’s new full-length for Ruination Record Co. — finds him pushing the boundaries of his formula. The album borrows its title from a phrase in a Haruki Murakami short story. It basks in a plain-spoken mysteriousness similar to the one that defines the Japanese author’s writing. Aiming to mimic the energy of morning, these six pieces are doused in a sun-kissed glow — warm and auspicious, with a dash of secrecy. “I wanted to explore a more organic approach compared to the last record, Exercise, which was mostly all me,” Vettraino says. “I wanted to hear musicians in a room interacting — exploring mediative and harmonic still music, but with more melodies… something that you could perhaps take with you on your day.”

Enlisting friends to flesh things out, A Bird Shaped Shadow’s credits read like a who’s who of Illinois favorites. Buzzy avant-garde cellist Lia Kohl and Macie Stewart (Finom, Tweedy) appear on strings; Phil Sudderberg (Spirits Having Fun, Grandkids) and International Anthem signee Daniel Villarreal contribute percussion; Rob Frye (Bitchin Bajas, Flux Bikes) plays clarinet, flute, and saxophone. It’s somewhat surprising that a tracklist packed with features incorporates no vocals. But Vettraino opted to let the instrumentals speak for themselves, knowing this would allow him to provide a more realized statement than words could.

The making of A Bird Shaped Shadow sparked in 2022, with Vettraino and his crew embracing earthy sonics and a margin for accidents. While Vettraino’s prior output had been rooted in improvisation, a chunk of A Bird Shaped Shadow came to life as sheet music. Writing music for strings was a goal for him, and he edited and composed over recorded improvisations. “I was nervous about it,” he says with a chuckle. “It was the first time I had notated anything out on a staff since college.” The framework for the record was established in live sessions with Kohl, Stewart and Sudderberg. Later, woodwind and percussion parts were overdubbed.

On A Bird Shaped Shadow, Vettraino and his collaborators embrace a comparably sepia toned palette to the one on Exercise, but swap the emphasis on weathered drones for a more lyrical and lilting directness, like the score to an unseen neo-noir film. Lead single “Morning Melody” evokes ‘70s Impulse! Records, smokey melodies swirling over a clacking groove. Another standout, “Parallel Play,” is plucky and aloof, as if suspended in floral scented mist. On “There Is No Way Not To Choose,” organic atmospheres hum atop a field recording of wind chimes. The whole record is balmy and ruminative, geared towards moments of serenity before the hecticness of the day sets in.

A Bird Shaped Shadow captures the unpretentious magic of the Chicago scene, in which prodigious artists effortlessly find themselves collaborators. “I feel like there’s this pride thing about surviving in the winter, and that makes the creativity better,” Vettraino muses. “For basically five or six months, you’re holed up inside. There’s an amazing community here, and I think because there is the second city nature to the city itself, there’s a lot of under-the-radar stuff.” He believes that lack of industry pressure, coupled with a hotbed of talent, encourages unbridled weirdness to flourish. Bursting with humanness, A Bird Shaped Shadow gives ample proof that his theory is true.
[Ted Davis]