Rewind to this time three years ago, to when all of the major music festivals for the summer had just finished, students had begun to realise it was assessment crunch time at uni, and gigs began to become fewer and far between. The only band left on the touring circuit it seemed was Perth band LITTLE BIRDY. In the 18 month period between releases of the debut album Big Big Love and its follow up Hollywood, there seemed to be nowhere to go without seeing advertising for one of their gigs. Fast forward to today and things couldn’t be more different.
It’s been three years since we’ve seen a release from the band and they’ve now returned with their third studio album Confetti. Guitarist Simon Leach explains,“There wasn’t a break between the first two albums because we wanted to go straight into it. With Confetti we didn’t take a break as a band but decided to take some personal time and it worked. We got into the studio and it was fresh. We were just hanging out and it wasn’t about the bigness of being a band it was about playing together.”
Recorded in Melbourne’s Sing Sing Studios, Confetti comes across as being a lot more personal than previous albums. The bass lines are deeper, Steele’s vocals sound naturally relaxed, the sounds of the ’60s songs that Leach says Little Birdy loves so much are all there, and the overall production has an air of minimalism to it.
“It definitely feels good,” says Leach. “It feels different. It has a really good vibe about it when we’re playing the songs. The whole album was really instinctive. We trusted ourselves and just tried to enjoy the process.” The first two release tracks from the album Brother and Summarise have been met happily by the critics and fans and the band is feeling confident.
After mixed reviews being received for the 2006 release Hollywood, the band has returned with a purity to the sounds fans know and love but also show their maturity. “A lot of people said that we sold out with Hollywood, but we were just making something we were happy with at the time. It was the best album we could make at the time and now we’ve made Confetti and this is the best album we could make at this time”.
The 11 track album also sees a guest appearance from Australian music legend Paul Kelly. Playing guitar and helping Katy Steele with vocals on Brother, Leach says the experience of working with him was a great one. “For him it’s still all about the music. It’s a real, soulful thing for him. It would be great to have half of what he has when we’re that age”.
And the idea of touring and being back on the road again? “We’re actually really looking forward to it” Leach says with a laugh. “We just do what we do. We just do it day by day and hope things change for the better… going on and up.”
Little Birdy play ANU with Oh Mercy at the ANU Bar on May 14.
