Young Heart (studio album) by Birdy

From Mercury 09/17/2021 02:49

(There is no pretense here. Its a young woman settling in and making a gorgeous chamber folk singer-songwriter album. The main them is love lost and loneliness and all the things and thoughts and insecurities and room for growth that that loneliness allows and creates. Stunning album, heartfelt, relatable. Great stuff.)

Now here I go again falling for a beautiful woman with the voice of an angel and a pen to match and an acoustic guitar to compose ballads upon. This is, indeed, right up my alley musically. The songs here, while somewhat blurred together as of yet, are consistently these nuggets of perfectly captured melancholia. The melodies and that voice (that voice!) are always at the forefront and well that they are becuase this woman can sing and she can sing with such purity and truth that I meld emotionally and feel what she is feeling and feel what she is singing.

Some of the more austere, folkie ballads are pitch perfect, like the daughter of Joni's Blue. The more fleshed out and orchestral tracks are subtle and soft enough not to feel saccharine. I just love the balance this album has. I can put this record on and turn down the lights and lie back and just soak in the whole vibe and it is so warming and welcoming. Maybe it helps that I am going through a bit of a lonesome streak in my life. If I wasn't feeling these things in my own life and if I didn't already have a deep and abiding respect and love for the traditions of confessional and emotionally bare singer/songwriter music, would I still love this album as much as I do? Probably not. No, actually, I DEFINITELY wouldn't love it as much. But I think I would still respect the hell out of the immaculate production, the gorgeous vocals, the nice if "inoffensive" (I hate when people use that word to describe folk or softer music. Like, what the fuck, it seems like every album some people listen to has to be weird, edgy, absurdly boundary-pushing regardless of quality in order to have any artistic merit, annoying asf... anyway, I digress) folk arrangements and the honesty of this album.

Critiques: well this ain't "Blue" or "After The Goldrush" these aren't the greatest songs ever written, and that goes without saying as those albums are 50 years old and this album hasn't been out long enough to see if it stands the test of time, and my money is that it won't to the degree those Joni and Neil albums have. What I mean to say is these are great songs and I really like to even love them, but they don't set some new high standard of confessional singer songwriter greatness. This album pays homage to those older masterworks and builds from there.

Other critique is perhaps the length of the album (59 minutes) and the fact that the songs aren't varied or differentiated enough to maintain full 100% lazer focus from me as the listener every time.

Those are minor quibbles. This is a great chamber folk/contemporary folk/songwriter showcase type album and it is just great hearing this young and talented artist work through her sadness, melancholy and loneliness.

From Brad1770 08/15/2021 01:38

Contemplative emotional folk musings ala Joni Mitchell-esque

My first Birdy experience and enjoyable enough, perfect for listening to on the car drive home following a stressful day at work