Interview: Birds Vs Planes

Birds Vs Planes are a band on the up. The Carlisle five-piece’s angular indie rock has slowly been gathering supporters, setting the band on an upwards trajectory that is set to see them shake off their underground status and loudly announce themselves to the world.

Ahead of a busy winter for the band, TNS speaks to vocalist Jenny Jones to get the lowdown on their big plans.

Stylistically, Birds Vs Planes can be hard to pin down with their varied sound. Jones emphasises this, stating: ‘Our music has quite an eclectic sound; it can go from very optimistic to quite dark fairly quickly’.

In part, this is due to the band’s individual tastes: ‘we’ve got a very different taste in music individually, which comes out a lot in our music’

What is consistent in their songs, however, is the bands song writing ability, showing a maturity that isn’t necessarily obvious upon a first listen. Throughout the band’s material, the vocals have a strong understanding, with the juxtaposition between the two often providing many a hook filled chorus.

Jones agrees, adding: ‘there shouldn’t be an argument between the two lead sounds, and we try not to make our music to congested. We think it’s important to not have too many things going on at once’

Nowhere is the bands skilful craft more obvious than in their upcoming single ‘Relative Worth’. Here the back and forth relationship between the vocals and lead guitar provide a toe tapping treat of angular rock at it’s finest. The frantic, urgent guitars contrast perfectly with Jones’ voice during verses, shifting to complement the vocals in the melodic chorus.

Birds Vs Planes - Relative Worth by Music Bakery

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However, the band do not stick to a formulaic approach for their songs, with their upcoming EP Relative Worth epitomising the diversity of the band. When pressed about the EP, Jones stated: ‘It’s a very diverse album, with some fast paced, high energy numbers complimented with grander songs focusing on the emotion of the songs.’

Continuing, she said: The EP will be out mid to late January, with the title track being released as a single on the 17^th December’.

A fact that is constant pointed out by critics and undoubtedly will continue to be emphasised is the fact that Birds Vs Planes is a female fronted band. It is worrying that outside of pop and folk a female vocalist is still considered an anomaly. Jones agrees, adding: ‘It can be devise, but I don’t think it should’.

‘I think it’s important that we’re not always labelled as a female fronted band. Often in descriptions of us we immediately get compared to other female fronted bands such as Susie and the Banshee’s and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’. Although its easy to make such comparisons, they are purely based on the gender of the lead singer and don’t reflect the sound of the band.

Jones adds: ‘It’s a shame, but it’s not something I have a major problem with. The band is a group effort.’

The tail end of 2012 has been a very busy time for the band, but there is still much left to do before the year is over: ‘‘Our single relative worth comes out on the 17^th of December, and we’re doing a few gigs around then including 3 gigs with Glasvegas’.

With the release of their EP in 2013, the band will be storming into the New Year with their most ambitious material yet in what Jones promises will be their busiest year yet. If you haven’t already gotten on board with the band, Birds Vs Planes should certainly be earmarked as ones to watch in 2013.

Interview: Birds Vs Planes

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