Red Sparowes – Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Sun

Release Date: September 19, 2006
Reviewed by Nathaniel Shannon

1950’s Communist China, The Great Leap Forward is initiated by Mao Zedong, in which sparrows were killed off in obscene numbers in an attempt to preserve the farmland crops. However, sparrows thrive on eating locust, and with the main predator now gone, the locust began to swarm China, destroying all their cops which resulted in a massive famine which led to almost 30 million deaths.

Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Sun is the soundtrack to this campaign. In the shadow of Pink Floyd’s “Meddle” and “Obscured by clouds”, Red Sparrows paint the 8 song, instrumental sounds-cape of famine and pestilence, in a mountainous epic of spiritual proportions, that has some of the most well thought out layers of sound in recent rock history.

I had the pleasure of seeing Red Sparrows on one of their first tours a few years back, and was floored at the tightly layered sound and awe inspiring visuals, that I was a little disappointed that their first release “At the Soundless Dawn” did not capture what I had see before my eyes. However, the Sparrows sophomore release was able to seize the energy of a live show, into one of the best releases of 2006. I can not stress how brilliant this record is, and how amazing of a live band Red Sparrows are.