Interviews: Exploring Birdsong

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Rock band Exploring Birdsong from England. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE. All these questions have been answered by Lynsey.

1. Your music is often described as “unclassifiable.” Do you resist genre labels entirely, or do you see them as useful entry points for listeners?

I wouldn’t say that we resist or avoid genre labels, it’s more that we don’t really pay attention to them very much when we’re writing! I guess that between our line-up being a bit unorthodox and our songwriting sensibilities being influenced by a broad range of artists, it’s understandable that there’s not one genre that neatly describes what Exploring Birdsong music sounds like.

2. Every House We Built uses houses as a central metaphor—when did that concept first emerge, and how did it shape the songwriting process?

It can be a challenge when trying to name a band or a record, because it takes time to hit on the combination of words that suddenly makes it feel real. When Matt brought ‘Every House We Built’ (the song) to the table, he pitched it as the album title at around the same time. I don’t believe we’d quite finished putting the tracklist together, but Jonny and I agreed that he was onto something. It didn’t take long before it started to make sense in connecting each of the 12 tracks together, and also worked well in describing what the whole album was about, too. This happens often with us- someone will have a moment of inspiration that suddenly answers all our prayers and solves a problem!

3. The album explores relationships across friendships, family, and romance. Was there a particular experience that became the emotional anchor for the record?

I think that, actually, the biggest strength in ‘Every House We Built’ is that there isn’t just one experience or scenario that inspired the album. We orbit one another so closely as very close friends, so we have witnessed many significant moments and milestones in each other’s lives. Each of us has the space on this record to speak to all those experiences in growing as individuals and being shaped into who we are now at last feels comfortable to share. We are equipped now to talk to people about who we are and how we feel, and chances are folks out there might have felt the same way once or twice, too!

4. Your sound blends heaviness with cinematic and almost ethereal elements. How do you approach balancing those extremes without losing cohesion?

The core of Exploring Birdsong has been and always will be the same- vocals, piano, bass, and drums. It’s true that over the years we have expanded on what folks will have heard on ‘The Thing With Feathers’ (2019), but there will always be that same connective tissue that pulls it all together in being as recognisable as Birdsong music. Songwriting is an intuitive process, and the three of us have always been on the same wavelength when it comes to making the best compositional choices that will make the most of whatever song it is that we’re working on. I really do believe that music we haven’t made yet already lives within each of us, which is why it has been so easy to realise it from record to record. It’s always there and ready for us to access.

5. There are subtle comparisons to artists like Kate Bush—has her influence been conscious, or is it something that emerged naturally over time?

I describe Kate Bush as my North Star! Perhaps her influence is less subtle now than it has been previously. I wrote ‘I_You’ very deliberately as a love letter to ‘Hounds of Love’, but we made a conscious effort to still have it stay true to living its life as an Exploring Birdsong track rather than sounding like a song that Kate Bush never got around to releasing. I’ll always be happy and very flattered to have Exploring Birdsong mentioned in the same breath as her!

6. Tracks like “You Like It Best When It Hurts” and “Romanticise” feel very emotionally exposed. How do you decide how much of yourselves to reveal in your music?

I’d say that it’s been easier to be comfortable with vulnerability on this record because we’ve stayed aware that we’re not describing unique feelings. Yes, we are telling people stories about things that have happened in our personal lives, but I’d like to think that anyone listening can also take the same comfort that we have in knowing that we are all connected through experiencing iterations of the same situations. I hope that a similar catharsis that I described earlier in writing personal songs can be felt on the other side while listening to them.

7. Having toured with bands like Katatonia and Sleep Token, what have you learned from sharing stages with artists who also push genre boundaries?

One thing that I’m so proud of, is that we have always had a strong sense of who we are as Exploring Birdsong. We know what we look like, we know what we sound like, and we know how we want people to feel at our shows. There are so many great artists out there that prove how far this sense of identity can take you, so it does inspire us to keep going and not compromise on what we deliver.

8. Festivals like RADAR Festival and Euroblast showcase a wide spectrum of progressive music—how do those environments influence your live performance or identity as a band?

It’s great to be around such uncompromising music! It’s so much fun to be in an environment where everyone is open to whatever they might hear next, despite how different it could sound from what they’ve just heard before. It’s hard to not feel inspired in environments where everyone is indulging in what makes them who they are, and I’d say it definitely does factor into us feeling all the more confident to showcase exactly who we are, too.

9. The idea of something carefully built collapsing is powerful. Do you see this album as cathartic, or does it leave questions unresolved?

‘Every House We Built’ is definitely cathartic. Now that 2+ years have gone by since a lot of the material was finished, I can definitely speak to moving through the seasons and ending up in a completely different place than I was then. I’m so proud of all of us that we put pen to paper when we were hurting, because it transforms that hurt into something else entirely. I’m not so sure that experiencing loss and grief is something that you ever completely get over, but it’s the shock of those losses that slowly moves further and further away from you over time. It’s that distance that changes the way you feel about them, and what ultimately helps to view those momentary feelings differently.

10. Looking ahead, do you feel like Every House We Built defines who Exploring Birdsong is right now, or is it just one chapter in a much bigger evolution?

I’d say that this album is another stop on the way to where we’re going! It’s very exciting, because we don’t know what the final destination is either. We are finding music every single day that embeds itself into who we are and what we like, which means there is no real limit on where Exploring Birdsong could go next. I’m keen to find out!

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