Winged Life

WIth more than a hint of Daphne du Maurier, Liverpool band Bird offer an ethereal, and emotional blend of acoustic adventures. It's a flight of fancy we're happy to be swept along with...

Spring is in the air. The crocuses are up, DFS has a sale on, and the birds are singing. Mind you, round our way, it’s the guttural rasp of magpies that greet us in the morning. So imagine our delight when we happened upon a far more exotic variety of Bird recently spotted in town, with a repertoire of songs sweet enough to charm Bill Oddie back to Springwatch, and a soundtrack destined to herald the start of a very special summer.

We caught up with singer, Adele Emmas (pic) ahead of their gig next week at (SevenStreet’s current spring crush) the Nordic Church to support the lovely Hannah Peel…

Tell us about how you got together?

I’ve always written a lot since childhood, but began to really take it seriously couple of years ago. I would lock myself away in my bedroom for hours, working on ideas and rough demo’s. I knew that if I wanted to create the right band I’d have to create a sound and vision and if people shared the love for that, the rest would naturally fall into place.

First of all I met Mick Dolan (guitarist) he had a passion for the music and a massive sense of enthusiasm, then followed Danny Poole (bass) Alexis Samata (drums) and Keith Thompson (guitar, mandolin etc).

You create a particularly lush, ethereal sound. How did you settle on that?

I believe that what is within you emotionally ends up coming across in your music, which then creates your sound. I’ve always been into quite dark and haunting melodies and always knew the sound and image that I wanted to portray. Getting that down exactly how you want it is the difficult part. But the band is great and we’re all coming from the same place, so that’s helped immensely.

Any particular influences that have helped shaped your sound?

I grew up on Leonard Cohen and The Cocteau Twins, so I think there’s definite influences in there. I just love music that creates emotion and makes you think, film is a massive influence too. As a band we all have such a eclectic taste in music and were all on the same level.

Your lyrics are rooted in reality, with washing lines, televisions, and the like (Kate Bush does this too). Do you enjoy mixing the everyday with the dramatic?

Yes, I think it’s good to connect lyrically with the listener, in the respect that we’ve all been fed up with our surroundings and are seeking escapism. We like to take the listener on a journey for a little while, somewhere that’s haunting, mystical and otherworldly, taking our fans to a different place. Somewhere unique.

What are your thoughts on the current Liverpool scene? Anyone take your interest?

I think the Liverpool scene is great, it always has and always will be good for music, there are lots of little gems of bands about. I wouldn’t say we were the norm of Liverpool bands out there but I definitely think we could fit in and perhaps bring something new to the table. If we were a great band to help put Liverpool back on the map then I’d be very proud.

With such an intimate sound, do you find playing live a challenge? The city’s venues aren’t known for it’s warm, clear acoustics…

Our sound can be quite big and dramatic with many instruments such as harp, violin and cello so it can prove a little difficult to bring that out in the live gigs at times, but we do our best!

What are your next steps?

We’re about to release our E.P which is currently being mixed and doing as many gigs as possible. Then we’ll get back into the studio and record a couple more tracks to please your ears! Some sleep during that time would be nice too …

What’s good about the city right now?

We love Leaf on Bold Street, Mello Mello and poetry/open mic nights in The Egg.

And what’s not so good?

Where did the big horse sculpture near the bottom of Bold Street go? I miss him!

Bird, supporting Hannah Peel, 19 March
The Nordic Church, Park Lane (Harvest Sun Promotions)