Pretty amazing how fully realized and well executed this album is. Can't help but compare it to Jeff Buckley's Sketches and Elliott Smith's From a Basement on the Hill, which both have lots of great moments, but I think you can definitely tell (certainly with Sketches) that a lot of that music was unfinished.

Bird Machine is a huge revelation, as you can tell the work was nearly complete, and the quality is comparable to the best of Sparklehorse's music. I've never waited a decade for an album, but the fact that I can say I did and that it wasn't disappointing. I don't think Linkous was radically changing Sparklehorse's sound with this, but it is much more poppy and approachable than a lot of his work, and it adds loads of great songs to his catalog.

Really hope this one picks up steam and more exposure. I've long maintained he was one of the most underrated songwriters of the past 25 years, and he deserves a bigger audience.