Canadian singer-songwriter Mike Frolick pops up under the wonderful moniker Birthday Squirrel, and his amazing first LP Higher, Warmer feels like stumbling onto a dusty 70s psych-folk gem that somehow knows all your anxieties. Injected with a good dose of alternative rock and unfiltered background noise, the twelve songs here lean into rough edges and charmingly scruffy imperfections.
The record was born out of a period of sleeplessness and looping worry, and you can hear that reckoning throughout: here someone is finally willing to drag the monsters out from under the bed and offer them a seat by the fire. Tracks wander between hazy introspection and melodic shimmer, turning this listen into a 41-minute therapy session disguised as a rock record (“Yeah, we got two chords and the truth”)—intimate and fascinating in both lyrics and music.
Let me emphasize that the album never sinks into gloom, maybe even the opposite; catchy hooks galore, and the confession of love to versatile comedian Marc Maron brings a big smile. Give it a few spins, and this debut will take you higher, warmer.
Higher, Warmer—performed and produced by Mike Frolick—is out now digitally via Angry Pigeon. For fans of Refrigerator, Jon McKiel, Guided By Voices.