I first heard Birdy on a mixtape at the 8 tracks website. It was her cover of Phoenix’ “1901”, a song I knew but not very well (despite friends who are so connected to Phoenix it’s almost like the band is a life support machine). I liked it very much – her voice was like glass, delicate but strong, shattering and crystal-clear.
So I thought I better investigate the rest of her album, self-titled and released last year.
A covers album rests on the choice of songs (are they so well-known so that they can’t be covered? Or, on the other hand, does it become like a Saturday night at the karaoke bar?) and how they are interpreted (is it possible to be fooled into thinking it’s an original piece of music because it’s so different?) For example, a man covering a typically female song or vice versa, like Travis’ startling cover of Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” or James Blake’s reinterpretation of Feist’s “Limit To Your Love”; or artists from different genres taking older songs and making them new, like Run DMC andAerosmith’s “Walk This Way”.
Now is a dangerous but also interesting time to be releasing covers records, depending on your perspective. With X-Factors, Pop Idols and various other talent shows blocking out our weekend schedules, she is either making a fantastic commercial decision. Or aligning herself with these 3-minute famers and selling out. But which is it?
It’s also interesting that it’s her first album… on the final song, an astonishing cover of Mew’s “Comforting Sounds”, she sings “nothing is pure anymore”.
Her approach is a little bit Adele, a little bit underground, a little bit indie, a little bit haunting as she seems to be described most – so she’s either doing some reverse psychology on us by getting us to think she’s cool, but really going for the lowest (laziest?) common denominator or she’s trying to bring back the cover song into the auspices of cool. Hmmmm.
It often depends on your perspective, or your emotional connection to the original song; Fleet Foxes’ “White Winter Hymnal” loses its Apalachian folk feel and becomes something close to mainstream female pop. Do you love the original too much to appreciate her version? Has she destroyed the feeling and/or authenticity of the song? “Skinny Love” doesn’t have the damaged delicacy of Bon Iver’s original version. Is this integral to the song? In some ways she brings something different to the National’s “Terrible Love” because the song is a strong female voice, rather than a gruff, gravelly man’s, and the song is sped up in tempo so becomes more a lighters-in-the-air number (complete with climactic end with layer upon layer upon layer of sound) rather than a quiet, introspective look at love gone wrong. What does the song suit best?
Some of the songs are very listenable and stand out in bright lights. They would make interesting excursions on mix-tapes or if you want to impress someone by putting on her cover of “Shelter” or “1901”. But the nagging feeling is that there is no cohesiveness. What brings the album together?
Her version of The Postal Service's “The District Sleeps Along Tonight” is ace though (interesting she didn’t cover the oft-covered “Such Great Heights” but the far more ‘difficult’ TDSAT) – it’s the rounds of voices and the way she chooses to approach the song that make it memorable. There was an element of unapproachability about the original – Birdy gives it a warmth and depth that didn’t come through in the original. That felt more stretched, more threadbare – hers is richer and perhaps more compelling, because it is so different, so far from the original.
Her version of The XX’s “Shelter” as well is pretty damn cool. Or is it the song making her cool? It’s still far from the original – but it has its breathy, ethereal feel. But again it sounds like something you’d hear on BBC Radio 2, rather than walking in Hoxton.
In many ways, a covers album has to work harder to impress you; you may like it more instantly, but in order for it to stick it has to do more than just be good. Birdy’s album is interesting and developed and makes me ask lots of questions of her interpretations and the songs – but I can’t help thinking she’d be saying more about herself and her outlook and her thoughts on music by releasing some original material. You don’t really want it to go all Joss Stone on her…
Birdy @ Wikipedia
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