Narc. Magazine Online
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The South Shields-based artist’s new album showcases bright and ebullient melodies
Image by Jenny Rohde
If Birdwatching, Daniel Clifford’s debut as Amateur Ornithologist, suffered something of pandemic-induced soft-launch, the South Shields songwriter is ensuring no such half-measures befall its follow-up. Quickfire in its arrival and showcasing a brighter, ripened sound, Building The Bird finds Clifford belatedly spreading his wings, liberated from those initial restraints of socially distanced recording and online livestream events. As such, this ostensibly solo project has expanded to a full band – and when better to introduce the new incarnation than on the evening of the album’s release, with a special show at Gateshead’s Central Bar on Friday 21st October?
With ebullient melodies spanning a gamut of influences – from post-punk’s artier fringes, to the harmonic sounds of ‘60s psych-pop – Building The Bird’s vivid realisation juxtaposes a more reflective lyrical tone, inspired by a recent autism diagnosis and Clifford’s subsequent shift in outlook. Lead single Hermit Phase is the perfect stall-setter, boiling a lifetime’s worth of social and productivity anxiety into two-and-a-half minutes of chiming guitar pop glory, celebrating rather than bemoaning the contrasting quirks of our diversely wired brains. Along with the lushly arranged Weird Walking and intimately smitten synth ballad The Willows, it’s a mightily seductive advert for the album’s launch gig, which also sees performances from fellow indie pop connoisseurs Reservoirs and viola-sporting electro artist Madeleine Smyth. Mark the date in your diaries!
