Art is a powerful thing. And it is in the modern world, with all its darkness and growing authoritarianism, the entrenchment of ideas, marginalisation, and a growing sense of disenfranchisement, that such a force is more relevant than ever. We must remember that resistance comes in many forms, and art is just one of them, something that sparks debate, something that is a sign, a calling card, a statement that shouts, this is who we are, and we will not be ignored.
I didn’t ask to be a bird is indeed an act of resistance, and an album of songs that range from intense synth-generated rock to understated pop and whose constant theme is the power of vulnerability. Surely, it is only when you can shout from the rooftops, “this is who I am, “_ unsure of the response, that you truly experience honesty, that and a sense of having been seen.
So we move from the energetic, bubbling beats of the opening salvo, “when i was done dying,” through the ever-growing indie-rock roar of “love sonnet for mikey” and on to the martial, beat-driven energy of “sisyphean.”
“tobias” is where the album turns a corner, an almost a capella song put to a funereal drum tattoo, all the better to capture the power and poignancy of the song. From here, there is a softening, via the beautiful, voice and piano balladry of “treading water,” the luminescence and space of “rainfall” and the gentle electro-waltz that is “a fly up on the wall.”
Never has a record sounded simultaneously so defiant and so sublime, so poignant and so beautiful.
Facebook
Instagram
TikTok
Website
