The Baltimore-based rock outfit Wilderness made waves when they released their first album about halfway through the last decade. Admittedly I wasn't a huge fan of their stormy experimental styles. I don't mind a dense, eerie sound, but something about the vocals and song structure just put me off. Then Colin McCann, the guitarist for Wilderness, put out a solo record a couple years later--and I fell in love with it. It's nothing like the Wilderness I was so lukewarm on. It's rich, powerful alt-folk, extraordinarily efficient in its ability to construct what feel like huge songs with little more than an acoustic guitar and vocals. McCann released the self-titled record under the moniker The Lord Dog Bird in 2008 through Jagjaguwar records. It doesn't look like it got too much publicity; Pitchfork gave it a mediocre review, but I guess McCann and the label kept its release pretty quiet. It's too bad; the record is a quiet hidden jewel within its genre. There's currently only one video online of The Lord Dog Bird, but lucky for us, it's a good one that really exhibits McCann's simplistic, raw performing style. Here's the good Lord himself playing "The Gift of Song in the Lion's Den" live in Seattle, Washington.