Deas Vail is one of the few bands who can take pop/rock music and force the listener to apply “beautiful” to it as an adjective. High pitched vocal melodies and musical ones of the same caliber dance around, each with the hopes of outdoing the other. Despite the elegance which flows freely throughout ‘Birds & Cages’, accessibility is not sacrificed and after the first time with the songs they begin to show their vulnerability. This album is an extension of the bands first record, but a more complete attempt at the melodic rock. Starting the journey off “The Things You Were” rests on its solid chorus, “You’ve taken me by surprise and given me new life“, and foreshadows the album’s theme of new life and the process of a story being told. “Excuses” seems to posses the most accessible hooks on the first listen by having one of the biggest dynamic differences between the verses and chorus. “Tell me, can you tell me, the page will turn itself and take us somewhere else” interludes into “Dance In Perfect Time”, a song that could have come off Mae’s album, ‘The Everglow’. “The Leaper” comes on the tail end of the record, but stands out as one of its strongest tracks. Both lyrically and musically the song has such a cinematic montage feel to it, you can almost see the accompanying visuals in your mind. Sweeping music gently soothes the images of being able to stand on the edge [metaphorically] and trust that things will be okay when you fall into something bigger than yourself. Each song aims to outdo the previous one with most succeeding, but none failing. A beautiful album, in every sense, Deas Vail has put together a collections of songs which proves they are ready to take the next step. The story concludes with the band waiting to be found, “Atlantis” being a fitting end for this chapter at this place in time.