Mourning work with acoustic folk pop.
She laid tarot cards, held séances and sought a connection to the afterlife. This is how I CAN SEE YOUR HOUSE FROM HERE was created, reveals Irish songwriter Wallis Bird, who lives in the Berlin area. Their eighth, but first completely self-produced album is not esoterically charged psychedelia, but rather down-to-earth, energetic acoustic folk pop.
Grief – both personal and social – is the central theme of several songs and is reinterpreted by Bird as a life-affirming force. However, the songs anchored in the private sphere are more convincing than the sometimes pathos-laden pieces that revolve around the abysses of our present, be it the situation in Gaza (“Hold Tight! Tomorrow is gonna come,” as it says in the anthemic “Hold Tight”) or more generally in the elegiac “Why Is Peace Problematic?”
Several songs are about the sudden death of her close friend and creative companion Kevin Ryan. The title of the album is also inspired by his songwriting. “Life goes on, but it was better with you” says the melancholy opening track “And So Turn The Wheels”. “Two Trees”, on the other hand, presents itself as an invitation to dance and “Let Buy Your Flowers” is beautifully wound: a multi-faceted approach to the different phases of grief work.