NEW DANGER FROM EXPLORINGBIRDSONG
With a little help from Sir Paul McCartney, the piano-led trio are back with a fresh EP.
English art-pop trio Exploring Birdsong are looking to continue their upwards trajectory with their new EP, Dancing In The Face of Danger, set for release on March 24 through Long Branch Records.
The record follows the piano-led group’s highly promising debut EP, The Thing With Feathers, which was released in 2019. The follow-up features a track that was the subject of a songwriting workshop with none other than Sir Paul McCartney, while the trio were studying at the Liverpool Institute Of Performing Arts. Said song, Ever The Optimist,
was released in November as a single, and is one of the poppiest pieces the band have created to date.
Bassist/synth player Jonny Knight tells Prog: “One of the big differences this time round is that the process of making the EP felt a lot more creative and natural, in trying to find what the Exploring Birdsong sound really was. We thought with this one there’s not really a limit to what the sound should be.”
“Obviously we would love the record to springboard us into Europe and further afield,” adds drummer Matt Harrison. “But for now it’s just nice to be able to have this thing coming out. I think it’s just about enjoying that, because it’s been so long since we last had that.”
So what about that workshop with Macca? Exploring Birdsong vocalist/pianist Lynsey Ward ran through parts of Ever The Optimist before the Beatle legend in a half-hour session, and he provided her with advice and pointers on songwriting, both in terms of music and lyrics.
Harrison remembers it well. “There was a bit where I saw Lyns have a sort of out-of-body experience, where she was playing the chords and singing the melody and McCartney was singing over her. She was like, ‘What is happening?’”
With two EPs now in the bag, Exploring Birdsong are currently writing their first full-length album. As the trio continue their musical journey and fully explore their sound, Harrison for one foresees some surprises in store: “I can already sense, with the stuff we’re listening to at the moment, that the next batch of songs that we come up with will take bits from these, but then spread out into loads of different other styles.”
The band plan to support the release of Dancing In The Face Of Danger with some live dates later this year.
“McCartney was singing over Lynsey. She was like, ‘What is happening?’”