Following 'Without the World' and 'Winter Lady', the New Zealander Alicia Merz of Birds of Passage returns with her third album 'This Kindly Slumber'. Like a cocoon, this album will envelope you in its many layers. Quiet storms filled with ambient atmospheres, densely layered choral drones, fragile vocals. Harsh reverberation, gently lulled by sweet musings, offset by poetic and philosophical lyrics, ebb away into blissful ambience. With allusions to dark-pop and classic broken-folk, the anti-climactic compositions of Alicia remind us that she is a singer songwriter for people who don't like singer songwriters. Climb into the cocoon of 'This Kindly Slumber'. This place of refuge will find you when you most need it, take you to the world within its folds. For fans of SLOWDIVE, GROUPER, ZOLA JESUS, COCTEAU TWINS, SIGUR RoS.