BECKY AND THE BIRDS
ONLY MUSIC MAKES ME CRY NOW - LP

UPC: 191400074118
Label: 4AD
Format: LP
Release Date: November 8, 2024
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Thea Gustafsson is a jack of all trades. Writing, recording, and self-producing under the moniker Becky and the Birds, she has entered an era of creative freedom and emotional release with her forthcoming debut album, Only music makes me cry now. When Gustafsson kickstarted her musical career as Becky and the Birds in 2016, her creative process was largely informed by a wide array of sources, including: insight from past collaborations with Dijon, Seinabo Sey, and Lapsley; obscure Bandcamp deep-dives; visits to live sets at clubs and dive bars across her two homes at that time, London and her native Stockholm; a variety of media fixations (including Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine, Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, and Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth); and the crushing vortex of emotions she had been encountering in the aftermath of a life-altering breakup. During that time, she needed to “let it all out to take it all in,” motivating her to return to the studio as a means wipe the slate completely clean and fully process everything she was experiencing. The songs she crafted during this period, which later became OMMMCN, allow listeners to follow her through that time of intense healing, with the record’s exploratory, desperate, passionate, romantic, and heart-wrenchingly vulnerable lyrical backbone supported by a varied collection of sampled audio-bites from her everyday life (from old demos and phone recordings to natural city noise). With this newest collection of ethereal, erratic, heavy-hitting, and hypnotic tracks, she creates sonic worlds with the intention of staying curious, eager, and above all, brave. In retaining her universal drive to push the boundaries of her production, her innovative and distinct style shines more than ever today.

PRESS

“Thea Gustafsson makes gossamer-light music threaded with R&B beats and her acrobatic, piercing falsetto [...] renders a contemplative and tranquil look at all the complexities that come when you allow yourself to be vulnerable to your own emotions.”
- Pitchfork

“Beautifully hypnotic [...] undeniably breathtaking”
- Variance Magazine

“Her layered vocals stack like a stairway to heaven”
- This is RnB

TRACK LIST:

Star
Anymore
To trust you
I look at the choices i made
I made my baby cry
When she holds me
London is not the same
Everything
Elsa 4-ever
Won't do that
Celebrity // Don't leave
Only music makes me cry now