Another big difference is that Magnolia had been conceived by Kenny before The Wooden Birds existed as a band, which now includes drummer Sean Haskins and guitarist-singers Leslie Sisson (who was an AmAnSet guest performer) and Matt Pond (a familiar name known for his work under the Matt Pond PA moniker). Writing for a band means that Kenny can now visualize how his songs will sound live, and in turn Two Matchsticks has been influenced by the 150+ shows that the group has played together, including tours with Grand Archives, The Clientele, Great Lake Swimmers, Dan Mangan, and Broken Social Scene. (Kenny was no stranger to BSS, having played on frontman Kevin Drew's Spirit If… and joining the accompanying tour on keyboards.) Seven of the 12 tracks on Two Matchsticks were test-driven live before being committed to tape, just as AmAnSet did.

"This record felt more like my experience with the Analog Set, where we'd play a song at practice and try to find out what it does well, and then when we finally got it where we liked it, we'd play it live," says Kenny. "Once The Wooden Birds had played a song live, it made it a lot easier to zone in on the rhythm. The fact that I could record it after-the-fact meant I didn't have to demo the songs three or four times like I did with Magnolia, trying to find the right tempo or trying to find the right beat."

Not that anyone should expect to hear The Wooden Birds' live sound captured on Two Matchsticks. And that's exactly how Kenny wants it, offering multiple sides of a band that's too dynamic to be presented one way. For starters, while Kenny's trademark guitar work is all over the album, he's the bass player live. And even more significantly, like Magnolia, Two Matchsticks doesn't contain any drums at all. Kenny has taken all of the beats into his own hands. Literally. "It's still just a fist pounding out a beat on the top of an acoustic guitar, and then everything played along with that," says Kenny.

Kenny mixed Two Matchsticks with Louie Lino (Nada Surf, Matt Pond PA) at his Resonate studio in Austin, and the two successfully made a richer, denser album than The Wooden Birds' debut. It's also packed with standout vocal performances from everyone involved, delivering lyrics that touch on unrequited love, heartbreak, and other things that keep us up at night but also, ultimately, get us out of bed in the morning.

Wooden Birds fans who have stood around the merch table after shows just to ask when Kenny and Pond would sing together again (like they did on AmAnSet's "Sharp Briar") will be happy to hear the dark, smoky "Be No Lie," and anyone who wondered if Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard would reprise his role alongside Kenny on the Analog Set's "The Postman" will love the gentle "Warm To The Blade." (Speaking of Gibbard, he and Kenny once took part in Post-Parlo Records' Home split CD series, and two of Kenny's contributions to that release have become Wooden Birds songs. "Hometown Fantasy" was included on Magnolia, and "Secrets Of The Heart" has reappeared as "Secrets" on Two Matchsticks.) Elsewhere, Sisson does a fantastic job with the poppy "Baby Jeans," the first song that Kenny's ever written for someone else to sing. Also on the album are David Wingo and David Hobizal of Ola Podrida, the Austin-based indie-folk outfit that Kenny has helped out on bass over the years.

As they did with the first album, The Wooden Birds plan on spending a good amount of time on the road supporting Two Matchsticks, breathing new life into old songs (including AmAnSet favorites) and putting a fresh spin on the latest batch of tunes.

PRAISE FOR 'Magnolia

'"intelligent and moving" — NPR

"heart-grabbing" — Pitchfork

"gloriously understated" — Interview

"Their record is lovely and I caught them in Austin during SXSW, definitely worth seeing." — BrooklynVegan