We’re excited to share this new video from Bird in the Belly, a new folk group formed of alt-folk artist Jinnwoo, traditional folk duo Hickory Signals, multi-instrumentalist and producer Tom Pryor, and visual artist and musician Epha Roe. Their songs are akin to being huddled around a campfire listening to gothic folklore, or the rhythmic beauty of a well-written classical poem. For each song on their debut album ‘The Crowing’ is an old forgotten British story, long forgotten or never recorded. As a band Bird in the Belly are reigniting these past British voices and introducing them to today’s folk audience, by creating raw and visceral songs with a 60’s folk revival feel around them. A sound that straddles contemporary folk but with a charming and distinctive echo of more ancient times.
Their second single ‘Give Me Back My Heart Again’ showcases the darker side of folk in its forlorn heartbreak. It features traditional lyrics found in the Bodleian Broadside Ballad collection, written between 1877 and 1884. It’s also our Song of the Day.
The band shared the following on the song:
“We found these lyrics in the Bodleian Library Resource, and we were really intrigued by how the lyrics seemed so contemporary, even though they are from the 1800’s. They are simple, direct and visceral, and I imagine they say as much to a heartbroken person today, as they did 200 years ago. You read the lyrics “Give me back my heart again, I’ll forget the happy past” and you’re right there with them, you remember sitting in your underwear, crying into your aloe vera Kleenex, and eating hummus with your fingers. It humanises the past. It’s not a song about a war, or poverty, or the big history book issues, but its a song about one very heartbroken person, who might have been completely forgotten about had they not written these lyrics.”
Ëpha J. Roe (Director and member of Bird in the Belly) added this about the video:
“‘Give Me Back My Heart Again’ has a real metronomic, almost mesmerising strength and quality that lends itself quite naturally to film. This directly inspired the movement of the singers, as well as the decision to shoot entirely as one continuous take.”
‘Give Me Back My Heart Again’, was written, recorded and produced by the band and mixed by legendary folk label Fellside Records. It is released as a digital single on 2 February, with their debut album ‘The Crowing’ following on 2 March on GFM.
We strongly recommend you catch them live, see their upcoming dates below:
Bird in the Belly Live Dates