Mildred Share New Single “Bird Laugh”

Oakland’s Mildred have spent the year building a small but committed audience for their version of alt-country: loose, melodic, and populated by four different songwriters. Their album Fenceline, released in April, earned attention for its easygoing feel and the way melancholia hovered just beneath the surface without ever turning the music heavy.

Now the band has returned with “Bird Laugh,” a single written by band member Jack Schrott. According to Schrott, the song came after a West Coast tour that included getting stuck in a snowstorm. “I think the song is about resigning yourself to something,” he explained. “Some things you can’t fight, like snow falling. And sometimes the things you resign yourself to are the most beautiful things, like snow.”

That idea carries into the track itself. “Bird Laugh” moves with the same unhurried quality that has defined Mildred’s recent work, drawing from post-Pavement and Silver Jews alt-country lineage without leaning on imitation. The four-songwriter rotation gives the band a shifting perspective, and Schrott’s lyric here carries a gentle, matter-of-fact clarity: acceptance doesn’t sound like defeat.

“Bird Laugh” and Fenceline are both out now on Memorials of Distinction.