Jealous of The Birds

Northern Ireland’s Naomi Hamilton, who makes music (and art) as Jealous of the Birds. Naomi has a knack for slicing up genres and making music that sounds homemade and tiny, but also explosive and bombastic. Hamilton started writing poetry and playing guitar at 12, influenced by beat poets like Allen Ginsberg, and such musical artists as Fleet Foxes, Pixies, Nirvana, and Elliott Smith. She began making music of her own in her second year studying English Literature and Creative Writing at Queen’s University Belfast. In addition to her work musically, she’s a painter, visual artist and, wait for it, a podcast host.

Hailed by NPR for her “remarkable gift for converting spare and common ingredients into a sound that’s utterly her own.” Peninsula, Jealous of the Birds’ new album, now sees this artist expanding her welcoming, deeply thoughtful songcraft. A poet and painter, songwriter and musician, Hamilton has crafted an evocative work of creative contrasts, combining spellbinding sonic turbulence and dramatic lyrical depth. Songs like “Something Holy” and the anthemic, optimistic “Pendulum” traverse the space between naïveté and experience, their themes enhanced by enveloping atmospherics and dynamic arrangements.

Hamilton first lifted the curtain on Jealous of the Birds with 2015’s Capricorn EP, followed the next year by her acclaimed full-length independent debut, Parma Violets. The album “shatters any preconceived notions,” raved The Irish Times. “Parma Violets progresses
from whimsical folk-pop to atmospheric indie post-punk of real substance…Hamilton rises to the occasion time and time again.”

Hinterland like Naomi’s previous work, was produced by the Irish producer Declan Legge. As before, the core players were Peter Close (bass), Jamie Hewitt (drums), Ciaran Coyle (guitar) and Matt Evans (piano, synths). On the track ‘Quiet Blues’, the cellist Laura McFadden enhanced the melancholia and the kinship to those old Nick Drake records.

The recording sessions took place at Big Space Studios in Newry and at Analogue Catalogue by the slopes of the Mourne Mountains. The label designation for the previous album and this one is Canvasback / Atlantic in the US and Parlophone in the UK.

Hinterland is due to be released on 19 May.