Wallis Bird
Wallis Bird has been enrapturing audiences for over a decade, playing over 1000 shows in that time worldwide. She has won multiple international awards including two Irish Meteor Awards, and has also received a nomination for the Irish Choice Music Prize. Her irrepressible energy on stage is one of her trademarks; even the Irish Times once noted it could ‘kickstart an entire economy’.
On Friday 27th May 2022, Wallis will release her seventh studio album Hands - her most personal and experimental to date. Also known as NINE AND A HALF SONGS FOR NINE AND A HALF FINGERS – HANDS finds Bird turning the spotlight onto herself, raising issues that are sometimes hard to confront. Among these are issues of trust, alcohol abuse, stagnation, self-censorship and self-improvement, some addressed through personal recollections of crucial moments accumulated over the last two years. Each, however, is delivered by a voice uncommonly blessed with joy, ingenuity and empathy. Some will understand HANDS' significance; they’ll have seen Wallis strumming an upside-down, right-handed guitar: “As a child I fell under a lawnmower and cut all my fingers off,” Bird states simply. “Four were reconnected. One was lost. This led me to relearn how to hold things, and, when the time came, to play the guitar differently". Having spent much of her life trying to exist despite its restrictions, she’s reached a point where she recognises that it's always been vital to her lived reality.
Your Fonder Heart - Anais Mitchell
This song breaks my tits. It's a delicate folk ballad that is subtle and filled with this mystical and high feminine sexuality and flirtation that I normally wouldn't draw attention to but that's the mood I'm in today! Anais as a writer is getting better with each turn and her voice is deepening and broadening with age which is just another reason for me to be consistently driven to evolve.
Holding hands - The Magic Lantern
A modern classic. It's slow build and unorthodox arrangement and voicing always catches the moment. It's extremely warm and comforting and it feels physically like holding hands to me.
Little Plastic Castle - Ani DiFranco
My big gay coming of age song! This spoke to my personality and my queerness in a way that will forever be fundamental to me. I was 18 and there she was, battering the shite out of a guitar with a band full of brass singing about wearing rubber bras and leather shorts walking confidently and unashamedly into a small town cafe, commenting on how beautiful her girlfriend looked and how someone might shoot 'em!. Romantic, dangerous, musically joyful - it's me!
The Cure And The Cause - Fish Go Deep
This is my girlfriend Tracey's song, and I just want to brag basically. She is the love of my life and I aaaaaaaaabsolutely love this song - yes, before I met her!
Hammond Song - The Roches
If you don't know this song, play it immediately. Listen. Don't do anything else ok? If it blows you away then I want you to play it in a room full of people and see who loses their mind! This song is like a secret magic box opening, only the few know about it. I've seen people drop everything and run across rooms to hug a complete stranger that also dropped everything when this song came on. Amazing, wonderful, unique, excellent song and group. You're welcome!
Mc Arthur Park - Richard Harris
I want this song played at my funeral. One of my life mottos is "If I don't laugh I'll never stop crying" and this song takes its metaphor of leaving a cake out in the rain so seriously and so musically epically that it is hard not to see life's insanity without a smile!
This Must Be The Place - Talking Heads
It's me and the Missus's song, and another one of those tunes where people join arms in screaming every lyric off by heart or you're staring smiling at the person that has you in a happy headlock. The singular bassline, the simplicity and oddness of it. Classic Talking Heads and a pop song for all time.
Thanks You For The Days - Kirsty McColl
My Dad's funeral song. One of the best songs ever written and my Dad is one of the best men ever written. He's still alive. I'm just in that mood!
Footloose - Kenny Loggins
My Mam's favourite song. Without question she will dance to this and it puts her in a great mood, it's gorgeous! Last Christmas I didn't say anything and while we were making dinner I put it on repeat. I think we got through it about 12 times before she was like "what the fuck?!"
No Good (Start the Dance) - The Prodigy
The best. I looooove this album and it's actually necessary for me to listen to this band alone, or like my sister Patricia when she played it at her wedding and we were all daytime head-bangin' and flailing like mad yolks in our dresses and suits, I just remember we were listening to like tom jones or something wedding dancy and then she gave the DJ the nod and No Good came on and everyone retreating backwards off the dance-floor and only the Bird siblings were there throw themselves all over the place, sober! A Moment!
