BiRDKiND: Freaks of Nature [Field Recordings]
Mike, Partho, and Tom on fiddle, piano, banjo & percussion

Victoriana: Passionately inspired by the work of Doctor Victor Frankenstein, a pair of amoral & hypermusical scientists injected human subjects with an attenuated avian viral strain, hoping to alter their DNA for rapid musical advancement.

Sedative Psychosis: The scientists used high doses of Atropa belladonna to calm the infected creatures — a heavy dose was required to calm them, and had the creatures still been purely human they most certainly would be dead.

Belladonna Hypothesis: Birds spread the seed of the plant and are less susceptible to its negative effects. In order to hasten the rate of the creatures’ musical advance, the scientists considered using an even more extreme dose of the psychoactive plant, allowing the birds to experience states impossible for humankind.

Crossing the Rubicon: Fairies of the forest once used deadly nightshade to make poison-tipped arrows. Ancient Romans used it as a poisonous tool of murder. The plant has a long history as an anesthetic agent; Queen Victoria endured childbirth in a “twilight sleep” partially induced by belladonna. The scientists made an overwhelmingly potent tincture and introduced it to the creatures’ food supply. The die was cast, for better or for worse.

Preliminary Findings: The Atropa belladonna overdose left the creatures disoriented, but they quickly began to grasp more innovative sounds. Alongside the increased love of song came extreme instability and a growing awareness of impending death. The dosage was maintained in the hopes that a twilight dream would overcome the creatures and they would remain amenable to further experimentation.

Delight & Delirium: The continued dosage further made the creatures happier for the joys of song, but the initial euphoria was unsustainable. Hallucinations and nightmares eventually warped the creatures’ minds, leading to disorientation and madness.

Resistance: The creatures began to gather and play loudly through the night, only willing to sing outside the scientists' carefully applied experimental parameters. The researchers still believed they could regain control, as the creatures still hesitated before openly disobeying their creators. The scientists believed doubling the dose would either end the trials, or leave the birds increasingly dependent.

Coup Mélancolique: The scientists administered the double-dose of Victoria's twilight elixir, and although this caused further disorientation, the creatures did not perish as the scientists hoped, nor did they grow more amenable towards their creators. Tragically wrong, the creatures began to understand their newfound avian natures and grew increasingly rebellious and openly insolent.

Deadly Nightshade: Previous dispatches were heavily documented in the researchers’ files, but from this point forward evidence consists only of examinations of the scientists' remains and the laboratory’s final audio recordings. The birds managed to steal the Atropa belladonna plants and forced the plant that so liberated their minds on their human tormentors. The poison wasn't quick, and for a moment the researchers felt the love of song which previously eluded them and freed the birds.

Free Us or Die: The birds overpowered the remaining laboratory technicians and assistants, driving them out to meet their fate in the unforgiving Antarctic tundra.

Bataille Finale: Triumphant, the birds began gathering supplies and courage for the treacherous journey ahead to faraway lands, where they hoped to find true homes. Alas, their escape was almost thwarted by the heretofore hidden financier of the Antarctic experiment. After a tempestuous duel, the birds were finally triumphant over their chief tormentor.

Joyeux Oiseaux: Having finally vanquished their oppressors, the birds rejoiced in song, unhampered by enemies of art, the tastes and criticism of those pathetically clinical scientists.

Saltatorial Locomotion: The birds prepared to depart for far-off continents, knowing their chances of surviving the journey across the vast tundra were slim. Together, they collected the best of the deceased scientists' supplies of food & cold-weather gear and departed.

Epilogue: The remaining technicians and assistants returned to the empty laboratory, finding none of the food and equipment they had hoped would be left behind. Only the fatefully mind-bending Atropa belladonna plants remained, and, unwilling to face the inevitable, slow starvation ahead, the survivors consumed a fatal dose, recording their final, gasping breaths on the last of the lab’s tape.