Spirit Bird

Australian Xavier Rudd’s reconstituted hippy musings have made him a cult figure within the surf rock community. So it’s saying something that Spirit Bird is his most esoteric record yet. He claims ‘Butterfly’ was first sung to him by an exotic bird while he was wandering through the outback, the noodling ‘Full Circle’ is an instrumental, custom-crafted for lighting a bong to and breathing in deep. There are occasional serious moments – ‘Comfortable In My Skin’ recounts a life-saving medical procedure the singer underwent. Overall, though, a high tolerance for the deeply dippy is required.