Up and coming UK progressive rock band Exploring Birdsong are set to release their debut album entitled Every House We Built on June 26th. Exploring Birdsong’s vocalist Lynsey Ward spoke with Metal Express Radio about the upcoming album, their upcoming UK tour, playing with bands such as Sleep Token and Katatonia, and more. Check out the chat below!
Metal Express Radio: How did the formation of your band, Exploring Birdsong, come about?
Ward: We all met in 2015 while we were studying music at university in Liverpool. We were each struggling with finding our feet and wondered if we had chosen the right path. As it turns out, we ended up being just about as lucky as we could hope to be in finding each other! We started writing almost immediately, and haven’t stopped for all these years since.
MER: Who are some of your main influences to play music?
Ward: Our influences truly stem from all over the place! Biffy Clyro, Yes, Everything Everything, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Coheed and Cambria, Nickelback, The Beach Boys. At this point, we’re hard pushed to find music that hasn’t made its way to influencing us somehow.
MER: Your debut album, entitled Every House We Built, is set to be released on June 26th. What can you tell fans about the upcoming release?
Ward: I hope that it’s clear to anyone listening that Every House We Built is a real labour of love from the three of us. You only get the chance to release your debut album once, and we wanted to make sure that this record would be worth the wait, and also a body of work that we could look back on with pride for the rest of our lives. We have felt ready to talk about our real lives on this album and to find comfort in vulnerability. It’s been a very therapeutic exercise!
MER: How was it getting together to write and record your first full album together?
Ward: It has been coming for a while, so the extent to which we might have felt daunted by working on the debut album before now has naturally had time to fall away, the more that we have matured and become more comfortable as songwriters. Back in 2022, when we first started to get the material together, it just felt like the right time to begin and see where the process would take us. For the first time, we have each brought songs that we had largely completed solo before bringing them to the others to build on top of. After working so closely together on Birdsong music for so long now, it has become easy for us to access it separately to create a cohesive body of work. The band lives in the songwriting DNA of all of us, which I hope speaks to how much we love what we do.
MER: You’ve released four songs from Every House We Built. Do you feel they give the fans a good idea of what to expect from the full album?
Ward: Yes and no. I think there’s plenty left on the album that will be surprising to hear, but I do think the singles have demonstrated that there’s plenty of breadth to what we’re capable of.
MER: You’ll be touring throughout the UK this coming September. What are your expectations for the upcoming tour?
Ward: We want to see people dancing! We feel so fortunate to be able to see a growing community of kind and fun-loving people coming together for love of our music, so we would love to see that reflected in how it feels to be in the crowd of an Exploring Birdsong show. These shows will be the biggest headliners to date for us, so we want to make them memorable for all the best reasons. Maximum fun and maximum vibes!
MER: Do you have plans for yourself and Exploring Birdsong after the UK tour?
Ward: Working on Every House We Built since 2022 has been transformative for us in so many ways. We have loved bringing it to life, but it has been a long, old road! The three of us are very much looking forward to being able to step back and take it in a little bit. We feel immensely proud to have created it, so it will be nice to sit with that feeling for a while.
MER: Who do you hope to tour with and why?
Ward: We feel inspired by bands that are uncompromising and unapologetic about who they are and what you can expect from their music. During the very early days of the band, Matt and I saw Coheed and Cambria on the ‘The Color Before the Sun’ tour, so it would be a very meaningful experience to tour with them someday.
MER: Is there any place you hope to play live and why?
Ward: We’d really love to make it over to tour the US! It’s a real milestone for any UK band, so getting to have fun with the folks that we know are over there and waiting for us to come will be so special once we can make it happen. We can’t wait to see you!
MER: You’ve already shared the stage with some big names like Katatonia and Sleep Token, and have played some major festivals such as RADAR and Euroblast. How were these experiences as a new band?
Ward: It’s always a learning experience. I’m proud that we have been able to hold our own on those bills, and grateful to have been given the chance to observe the graft that goes into making those shows the kind of events that they are. Crew are so often overlooked- it is only right that their hard work and dedication are recognized. The gig is only really half the story when you come to see a concert!
MER: What are your hopes for the future of Exploring Birdsong?
Ward: I hope that we continue to evolve our sound and keep climbing up! Every House We Built does feel like an arrival for us and a means to show what we have become capable of, but I find it exciting to think about how, in the future, we will be able to reflect on how it was an important part of our history as a group, and connect it to what will come after. I can’t wait to find out!
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