Holland Belle
Bird Song
Friday, May 13, 2022

For Holland Belle, the voice has always been an evolving instrument. From childhood she trained to become an opera singer, adhering loyally to the firm boundaries of the classical arts. However as adulthood arrived, so with it came the many colored sounds of the wide world. She found herself experimenting with the voice, bending it into new shapes, like a silver filament that could dance and emote in endless configurations. Belle became a chameleon of sorts, able to shift to various vocal selves, molding them based on whatever the music asked for. It was exciting, and also confusing, for it left her wondering: which of these voices is actually me? On her debut full-length album Bird Song, the Hudson-Valley based artist finds her most natural voice, weaving a folk-tinged thread through a lens of self-reflection and spirituality. It’s here that Belle transforms uncertainty into songs of optimism and strength.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Belle formed much of her musical self in the city. For four years, she co-founded and fronted dream pop band Nightjacket, who’s swirling, hypnotic songs saw them tour with The Besnard Lakes, and feature on numerous television shows and movies. After parting ways, Belle began to focus on her solo work, eventually traveling to the Catskills to begin the recording process of Bird Song at analog studio Basement Floods. Surrounded by the nourishing presence of her collaborators— engineer Alex Wernquest and producer Dante Bardo— Belle uncovered the sound of her next musical phase, and ultimately kick-started a radical life change. She returned to LA, sold her belongings, gave up her apartment and made the move to New York. This spontaneity and the optimism of trusting your gut permeates throughout Bird Song, as Belle offers a guiding hand through a corridor of renewal.

The trio spent two weeks together in a renovated barn, away from the distractions of cell phones and social lives. They slept under the same roof, cooked meals together, and sometimes recorded late into the night. Despite burning the midnight oil, Belle found herself waking early each morning. She took her guitar outside and sat on the grass to write new songs. They came through in a flash, often fully formed. When the others woke up she shared her ideas, and the group took them directly into the studio. They recorded straight to tape amongst the ambient sounds of the woods. Birds, frogs, and thunderstorms crept into the songs, as Belle’s iridescent, velvet-rich vocal sauntered across each track. The result is testament to the observance and acceptance of the present moment, where Belle welcomes the unexpected, and flourishes under the tapestry of the traditional. Belle also invited friends Jonathan Talbot (strings) and Wesley Harper (additional keys) onto the record, while mixing engineer Andy Baldwin (Bjork, St Lucia, Haerts) helped to piece together Bird Song’s intimate and immersive sonic universe.

The catalyst for this collection of songs came from a morning in Berlin, Germany. Belle was living far from home, navigating a recent heartbreak and unsure of where her next steps would take her. On a branch outside her bedroom window, a goldfinch began to sing. Over the next few days, the bird returned to the window, prompting Belle to record this moment of beauty amidst a sea of doubt and anxiety. She transformed the bird’s delicate melody into a larger song, which was later split in two to form the album’s title tracks, gently reminding us to rise out of bed and persevere, no matter how tricky the journey may seem.

That journey begins with the beautifully delicate opener “Arrow”; a song that explores healing the tug of our ancestral weight. Shimmering strings inspired by 1970s Spaghetti Western composer Ennio Morricone open the track, giving way to gentle acoustic strums and lightly dancing hand percussion. “Your pain, your touch, your way of love, made me sharp // let me go, like an arrow” Belle sings, looking with curiosity at the root of resentment. At the song’s climax, a sudden major chord pulls dissonantly, drawing the music upward into the healing resolution it yearns for, but is perhaps not completely ready to receive. Closer “What’s Best For You” sees wailing guitars and Belle’s generous vocal performance exploring an acceptance of struggle. We can’t force those we love to change and it’s here that Belle urges herself to seek neutrality instead of control, embracing the ebbs and flows of the human experience without judgement.

On “Magnetism,” a track that centers on Bird Song’s sense of faith, Belle urges her heart to go other places: to sit in silence and stillness amongst the chaos of the world. Gentle percussion pushes Belle forward, as she discovers the tranquility and warmth that she has searched for in other people, was in fact always within her. “I can go to Mother,” Belle says. “I can go home to myself, to the Divine. And there I'm always comforted.”

Bird Song is an album about building faith in something greater. Change, evolution and joy take real courage, and while some will be content to stay underwater, Bird Song sees Belle swim towards the surface. Life is not meant to be experienced behind a gauze, or guided by memories of the past, and it’s throughout Bird Song that Belle offers a platform for sincerity and resolve. It’s a slow breath, a hand on your heart, as you embark on your bravest chapter yet.