Rare Birds (album)

Rare Birds is the third studio album by American musician and producer Jonathan Wilson. It was released on March 2, 2018 under Bella Union.

Production
The album was self-produced by Wilson at his Five Star Studios, with Jeffertitti Moon ; in Echo Park, Los Angeles.

Release
On December 5, 2017, Jonathan Wilson revealed the new album to be released on Bella Union on March 2, 2018. The album has appearances by Lana Del Rey, Laraaji and Father John Misty. The first single to be released from the album, "Over The Midnight" is directed by Andrea Nakhla.

Critical reception
Rare Birds was met with "generally favorable" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 74, based on 13 reviews. Aggregator Album of the Year gave the release a 74 out of 100 based on a critical consensus of 12 reviews.

Thom Jurek from AllMusic explained that the album "is dizzying in ambition and (mostly) dazzling in execution. It offers hours of enjoyment to anyone who takes it on. It's sprawling at nearly 80 minutes, and lavishly packaged.". Andy Gill from The Independent stated: "The lush opacity becomes claustrophobic over his eighty-minute default track length: though frequently sweet and beautiful, one’s ultimately left like Heliogabalus, drowned in rose petals.".

Personnel
Musicians Production
 * Jonathan Wilson – primary artist
 * Dan Bailey – drums (track 6, 8)
 * Joey Waronker – drums (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10)
 * Jake Blanton – bass (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6)
 * Dan Horne – moog bass
 * Pete Jacobsen – cello (track 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11)
 * John Kirby – piano (tracks 3, 4, 8, 10)
 * Ziad Rabie – saxophone (track 2, 8)
 * Tom Lea – violin (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 8)
 * Derek Stein – cello (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11)
 * Greg Leisz – guitar (track 4, 6, 10)
 * Jessica Wolfe – guest vocals (tracks 1, 4, 6)
 * Laraaji – gues vocals (track 9)
 * Josh Tillman – guest vocals (tracks 3, 7)
 * Krystle Warren – guest vocals (tracks 3, 7)
 * Holly Laessig – guest vocals (tracks 1, 4, 6)
 * Omar Velasco – guest vocals (track 5, 6)
 * Lana Del Rey – guest vocals (track 9, 10)
 * Ziad Rabie – saxophone
 * Jeffertitti – co-producer, vocals (track 3, 11), piano (track 3), mellotron (track 8, 12), moog (track 12)
 * Adam Ayan – mastering
 * Dave Cerminara – mixing
 * Drew Erickson – string arrangement
 * Andrea Nakhla – photographer