Wallis Bird
New Single ‘Hardly Hardly’ released 7th April
New Album ‘ARCHITECT’ Released 14th April
Promo Tracklisting:
1. Hardly Hardly Radio Edit
2. Hardly Hardly Sebastien Leger Remix
3. Hardly Hardly DCM Remix
4. Hardly Hardly La Rochelle Remix
With the release of her fourth album, Architect, Irish artist Wallis Bird marks
another milestone in her career – a career that has been fought step by step; a
career that has been built slowly but solidly, as her growing legions of fans
will testify; and a career with as many ups as downs, but very few compromises.
To build a house, you have to put the foundations in place first, and Architect
represents the culmination of a long journey of self-discovery and
reinvention.
It may sound like something from Spinal Tap that Wallis Bird lost all the
fingers on one hand in a lawnmower accident as a baby, but it’s no
exaggeration, and it didn’t stop her picking up a guitar as a child, flipping
it upside down, and carrying on as if nothing had ever happened. Today she’s a
veritable virtuoso on the instrument, and with a chuckle, she describes that
fateful “lawnmower incident” as having given her “her mojo”. That mojo carried
her to record deals with Island and Columbia Records, several high profile
awards and nominations, and tours across the world with the likes of the
Gossip, ZAZ, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Billy Bragg and Emiliana Torrini.
But we should go back a bit. Before her first major label signing, Bird
self-released the single Blossoms in the Street. The track spent twenty weeks
in the airplay charts in Germany, and grabbed the attention of Island Records
who signed her almost on the spot. Through Island, she released her debut album
Spoons in 2008, which hit the Top 5 digital album charts in the UK and led to
her receiving the Irish Meteor Award (equivalent to a Brit Award) for Hope for
2009.
Her follow-up album, New Boots came in 2010. In Ireland it made the Top 15 in
the Official Album Chart, and Bird found herself personally invited to tour all
over Europe with Rodrigo y Gabriela. She also earned another Irish Meteor Award
– this time for Best Irish Artist.
The self-titled third album came in 2012, and Wallis toured extensively,
reaching over 30,000 people across 80 dates. International praise rolled in,
culminating in a nomination for the prestigious Choice Music Prize in her
native Ireland (the equivalent to the UK’s Mercury Prize) and album chart
entries around the continent.
The new album Architect brings with it new influences. Having lived in London
for seven years, Bird moved to Berlin to write the new album and quickly became
inspired by its vibrant culture, and from dancing all night long in clubs and
bars as she immersed herself in the city’s pulsating rhythms. These influences
can be heard all over Architect. Collaborating once again with producer Marcus
Wuest, it’s an album about becoming the architect of one’s own life; it’s about
reclaiming control, shaking off the cobwebs, finding new freedom of movement
and expression, and casting off the long shadows of failed relationships. Never
better is this exemplified than on the album’s opening track and forthcoming
single Hardly Hardly, a clubby, euphoria-fuelled anthem that encourages the
listener to abandon their cares and head to the dance-floor instead. As Bird
says, “when I moved to Berlin, that’s pretty much all I did, often with my eyes
tightly shut for hours on end. I was shaking off London and the feeling that I
could hardly, hardly move”.
Wallis Bird has always defied being pigeon-holed, and with this album she soaks
up the influences that have surrounded her in Berlin and London before putting
them through the Bird-blender and serving up an innovative dish of an album.
Architect represents the madness of change, of leaving one life behind and
starting another. As Bird puts it, “I needed to find a home; I needed to build
a home. That’s what Architect is about”.
Watch the album video trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk173qRXbxc&feature=youtu.be
Album Launch Show -
11th May – London (UK) – Garage
www.wallisbird.com