LIVERPOOL/BERLIN – With ringing endorsements from BBC Introducing, Tom Robinson’s Fresh On The Net and a plethora of tastemaking magazines both in England and her native Germany, Dorothy Bird’s star is rising. Comparisons have been drawn with Björk, Kate Bush and Thom Yorke, but the sound of Dorothy Bird is startlingly original. “I love those artists because they’re unique and use melodies to create a feeling or atmosphere. I like my melodies to be surprising, as light as feathers and moving from place to place.”

BELONGING dives into personal development and wills a world to appear. “I wrote and recorded lyrics, synthesiser soundscapes, melodies, rhythms and sounds that present emotions that can be experienced in the songs,” reveals Dorothy. “The album is very personal, but contains themes that everyone will recognise: uprooting, longing for arrival, familial warmth and letting go. It’s about constant change, liberation, reorientation and the desire to accept all feelings in their richness. One can feel heavy and light at the same time, these feelings cannot exist without each other…”

Combining acoustic strings and guitars with synths and drum machines, BELONGING represents two different worlds that are connected to each other. “All instruments belong together,” smiles the artist, currently dividing her time between Liverpool and Berlin. “I looked for different elements and sounds for the songs on the album that live in a different part of a spectrum, a bit like day and night, stillness and liveliness, heaven and earth. I wanted to combine these sounds and colours to support the lyrics of the songs.” A beguiling listen that encourages conversation and exchange in polarising times, BELONGING connects microcosm and macrocosm with a deft touch. “I want to say ‘you are not alone’ with these songs,” Bird says. “A person’s development is a microcosm and a direct mirror for the macrocosm, such as the development of the stars.”

BELONGING was produced with Jon Lawton (Sami Yusuf) at Crosstown Studios in Liverpool “He is not only my favourite person,” smiles Bird. “But also a very talented musician and he took the songs to another dimension with me, giving it depth and shimmer.” Dororthy Bird’s trademark synth sounds are joined by the strings of Wirral musician Amy Chalmers on the new record: “I love how the strings make the songs complete,” she says. “The strings give the songs a special colour. Natasha Jaffe also recorded her beautiful-sounding cello from her home studio in Berlin and we have worked together for a long time. I’d also like to highlight the lyrics from ‘My Heart’ – written by Theodor Fontane – and the lyrics for ‘The Evening’ by Rainer Maria Rilke… both are famous German poets whose work I love.”

Talking just like she sings – beautifully unaware of the life the breathlessness of her delicate but determined voice can breathe into this fouled and confused world – Dorothy Bird has arrived. And she belongs.

For information about live dates and further release information, connect with Dorothy Bird online:

Dorothy Bird | Instagram
Dorothy Bird | Spotify

Website | http://www.dorothybird.de