Paper Birch is a collaborative experimental noise rock duo formed virtually by Fergus Lawrie (Urusei Yatsura) and Dee Sada (NEUMES / An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump) in May 2020. Despite 10 years of online communication, the pair are yet to meet in the flesh. United by mutual feelings of despair, fragility and hope, they passed ideas and sounds between London and Glasgow whilst the UK was in lockdown. The resulting 9-track debut LP morninghairwater is set to be released on vinyl, CD and digital via independent label Reckless Yes on July 30th 2021.
Standout single ‘Blue Heartbreak’, which premiered today via Under The Radar, reflects on the point at the end of a relationship when your heart is so broken that it starts to feel ok again. Epic 90s guitar solos engulf the listener before fading into a 70s-esque disco drum outro, an amalgamation of 20th century pop through an experimental lens that is distinctively ‘Paper Birch’. “The video is a physical interpretation of colour and movement,” explains Sada, who edited the video. “‘Blue Heartbreak’ is an anthemic break-up song and the dancer conveys the different stages of break up emotions: sadness, frustration and then a new found empowerment where they’re ready to own the world”.
“Written, recorded and produced during the first lockdown, morninghairwater is a collection of thoughts and sounds which represent the emotional space between clinging on to the old pre-pandemic world and hurtling into a strange, unknown, terrifying new world” explains Sada. “It’s a testament to love, hope, beauty, fear, loss, sadness and isolation.” A melting pot of genres, morninghairwater twists and turns through moments of 60’s inspired indie-pop, fuzzed out angular shoegaze and glitchy electronic soundscapes with astonishing ease.
Whilst morninghairwater may be a product of the universally challenging time in which it was recorded, the duo has already started work on their second album and Paper Birch looks set to be an enduring fixture of the UK experimental scene.
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