`Every House We Built` is the debut full length album from British progressive rock band Exploring Birdsong who comprise of drummer Matt Harrison, singer and pianist Lynsey Ward and bassist and keyboardist Jonny Knight. The release is an exploration of human connection in all its forms, an album about relationships, friendships, family ties, and romance. For the first time, the band draw directly from lived experience, using the metaphor of houses to frame the fragile and evolving nature of these bonds. Like the structures they evoke, relationships take time, care, and intention to build but can collapse in an instant, leaving behind echoes of what once felt permanent.
The album opens with `Archipelago` which is usually is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands with ecological and evolutionary value which here is possibly used as a kind of representation for somebody being maybe a little distanced. Piano keys join what sounds like crashing waves or a storm as vocals lead us into and through this track. It feels quite distanced at first before it becomes more emotively forceful and concludes with what almost sounds like a musical heartbeat. There`s a real feeling of distrust and paranoia with `42` although in pop culture, 42 is famously known as the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”. This number ebbs and flows with a delightfully funky vibe with the numeral overshadowing all.
`Romanticise` is pretty fast paced and appears to relate to a relationship that has seen better days whereas `Footprints` feels almost grief stricken without actually alluding to the cause of this loss, heartache, and anguish.
`Arrhythmia` I read reflects on the desire for comfort from someone no longer present and using the title which refers to an abnormal heart rhythm seems to sum up the story quite succinctly. There`s a real dreaminess to the accompanying music. The confusion of heartbreak is depicted with `Spy In The House Of Love` which begins with the sound of Uilleann or Northumbrian pipes and becomes a flowing rhythmic swaying reflection.
`I_You` was inspired in part by the expressive spirit of Kate Bush and offers a hopeful and euphoric reminder of self-worth and shared strength. It does have a hint of `Cloudbusting` meets `Running Up that Hill` but nevertheless has its own enticing identity. There`s a real edge to `The Warning` which becomes much more angular and forceful as it evolves.
`You Like It Best When It Hurts` deals with self-destruction, self-harm and has a heavier ambience which seems to mirror this complex and harmful act. The stripped back `Cartography` has piano, vocals and orchestration allowing it a sense of exposure and susceptibility and a desire for direction.
Title track `Every House We Built` according to the band encapsulates the album’s central idea that even the strongest foundations can reveal hidden fractures. There is a deep sense or perception of insecurity ingrained throughout this composition. The album concludes with `Meadowlands` which is a more uplifting optimistic submission and a fairly positive piece to end on.
`Every House We Built` is a curious but wonderfully appealing listen. I felt it was more progressive pop than progressive rock and had a kind of emotive intelligence, both musically and lyrically. It`s the kind of album that will offer something different, something that you previously missed each time you return to it.
It will be intriguing to witness how this trio develops.
Rating 8/10
