Our Play Irish Artist of the Week on Beat Breakfast with IASCA is Wexford's Wallis Bird and her new single 'As The River Flows'.
The single is the first to be taken from her brand new album, Woman, out later this year on 27th September.
With a rousing chorus and a sense of urgency running throughout, ‘As The River Flows,’ is as powerfully musically as it is emotionally. The lead single is devoted to Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian refugee whose drowned body was photographed in 2015 on a Turkish beach. “It’s dedicated to the incredible souls who faced death crossing the Mediterranean Sea and to the poor little boy, Alan Kurdi who’s drowning broke my heart. This is ultimately a song for hope.” said Bird.
Written to dispute ideas of the ‘right kind’ of immigrant, the song directly addresses contemporary, complex issues of immigration, especially in its confrontational statement, “If you can move/ Then I will too”, and its explicit challenge, “Aren’t you brave enough/ To pave a basic decency for humankind?”
A daring synthesis of Bird’s singer songwriter roots and passion for, among other genres, soul music, Woman, set for release on September 27, is eleven songs long but 37 minutes short, pointed and powerful, packed with penetrating truths and flashes of levity. Most significantly, it insists our lives are intertwined with inescapable consequences.
Written and almost exclusively performed by Bird, with regular associate Marcus Wüst as co-producer, Woman is Bird’s transparent attempt to speak out against injustice and counteract apathy through bold, blunt confessionals.
“Like most artists, I’ve probably shirked my responsibilities at times so as not to rock any boats,” Bird confesses. “But I decided it was time to change that.” Her goal now is to animate and agitate.
Wallis Bird has released five albums since 2007, performing some 800 shows this past decade. Wallis Bird has one two Meteor Music Awards and has received two further nominations for the Choice Music Prize.
