It is always good to hear new material from Birds are Better (Stian Fjelldal), an erudite and thoughtful type who wouldn’t know what wallpaper music is if it peeled off the wall and slapped him in the face.
A deal of deep consideration goes into each of his creations. We reviewed one track from this latest, four-track EP of his, ‘Hope and Sorrow’, back at the end of January, ‘Hymn for the Hope and the Sorrow’, which acts as an introduction to the album and which ruminated on the power of prayer when you don’t even believe in it.
I assume from the EP’s title alone that it concerns loss, regret and hoping, sometimes ‘against hope’ that loss can be rectified. It could be simply because an affair came to an end or more profoundly because the object of the song is no longer present mortally.
There is a contradiction in the lyrics that I’m wrestling with. He sings of having “hopes for the summer” but at the same time –
“Right there by my bed/There it is, the photo/I’m trying to forget” – suggesting the pointlessness of the hope of a meeting, or of the impossibility of it. And that the only realistic outcome is for him to accept that fact.
Indeed in some ways it echoes the sentiments of that hymn – that he lacks belief even if he pays lip service to it.
You may well have your own interpretation of course but that is one of the many delights of Stian’s music; his ability to stimulate your mind and open up multiple avenues of thought.
Musically he sounds more like Paul Simon-lite than ever. And not that lite, either.
(Continues after the Spotify link).
Find him on:
Website: https://birdsarebetter.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/birdsarebetter
