* En anglais uniquement
Under the name
Birddog, Buffalo-based singer/songwriter
Bill Santen built an evocative and sometimes surreal strain of Americana, heavy with imagery and bearing a strong poetic sense. After emerging in the latter half of the 1990s, the project yielded a quartet of distinctive albums including 2001's haunting
A Sweet and Bitter Fancy.
Santen retired the
Birddog name in 2004 and issued his first proper solo album.
A native of Lexington, Kentucky,
Santen spent several years drifting up and down the West Coast before finally settling in Portland, Oregon. There he was befriended by indie hero
Elliott Smith, who agreed to produce
Birddog's debut single. Released in 1996 and featuring
Smith on bass and drums, the Killer 7" appeared on the tiny Undercover label.
Santen then signed to Chicago indie Sugar Free Records and released a pair of albums in quick succession. 1997's seven-song follow-up The Trackhouse, The Valley, The Liquor Store Drive-Thru was again produced by
Smith and introduced fans to
Santen's earthy folk landscapes. Ghost of the Season appeared just one year later in 1998 boasting a fuller band-driven sound and featuring future
Wilco member
Glenn Kotche on drums. A few years later,
Birddog re-emerged on the small French label Alice in Wonder with 2001's dark-hued
A Sweet and Bitter Fancy which again included both
Smith and
Kotche.
Birddog's final album, Songs from Willipa Bay, was released in 2002 by Georgia indie Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records. By 2004,
Santen had shed the band name and released his first solo record, the more intimate
In the Night Kitchen. ~ Timothy Monger & Jason Ankeny