Lauren Bird - I Wonder

Whilst there is still a few months to go until the end of the year, it is increasingly seems that our favourite album of 2017 is going to be "The Inbetween" by Strabane singer/songwriter Lauren Bird. We'd been following the progress of Lauren for a few years, and were not disappointed when the album finally landed - a mixture of happy songs about sad things and sad songs about sad things, all underpinned by the ukulele. 

The whole album is a real treat, although if we were to pick out our just three tracks that demand your attention, they would firstly be "Things I'm Good At", a self-depreciating look at all the things Lauren considers herself good at. Second of all would be "That's The Truth", a truly majestic and heartbreaking song that gets me a little bit bleary eyed just thinking about it, and contains of the best, most heartbreaking lyrics in a song we've heard this year - "I'd rather be nothing that be a burden to you". 

And the third song? That would be "I Wonder", another great tale of heartbreak, with a chord sequence that reminds us of "Over and Done With" by The Proclaimers (which we are informed was merely coincidental). The music video for the song has just been released, which depicts a couple at a critical stage of their relationship, which has been directed by Caris Rianne (who as everyone who listened to our podcast with Lauren Bird knows, has collaborated with her before).

It's also the first time that Lauren has appeared in one of her own music videos, albeit in a small, blink and you'll miss it cameo role. In fact, if you are trying to get your Lauren-sceptical friends to listen to her music, you could turn it into a game of "find the Lauren", with the first person to spot her in the video winning. That way, you can introduce a friend to Lauren Bird's fabulous music, as well as having the superiority of winning the game. It's a can't lose situation. 

"The Inbetween", the debut album from Lauren Bird, is out now.

Lauren Bird - Goodbye, Good Luck

It's very rare on The Metaphorical Boat for us to cover a song that we've featured fairly recently in the past, but in this case, we're more than happy to make an exception.

Back in December last year, we came across Strabane singer-songwriter and ukulele enthusiast Lauren Bird after she performed two songs in a competition a friend of the blog was taking part in. She completely won us over both with her beautiful take on "No Surprises" and the self-penned "Goodbye, Good Luck".

And in the intervening period, she's gone on to win over even more people. In February, she was crowned the winner of Chordblossom's Kickstart competition (the same competition that boosted the career of Soak in her formative days), and in the past few months she's played several festivals, as well as being asked to support Hannah In The Wars on their Irish dates. She's also managed to find the time to compose the soundtrack for a feature-length film due for release next year.

And to cap off a great year so far, she's just released a new single, which is a updated version of the song that made us fall in love with her in the first place. A tale of learning to love being on your own, "Goodbye, Good Luck" has been given a slightly poppier upgrade from the earlier version, with added hand claps and other additional studio bobbinses, although the ukulele still remains at the heart of the track.

It's lovely to hear a fresh version of the song that made Lauren Bird grab our attention. Hopefully now it will now grab the attention of even more people.

"Goodbye, Good Luck" is available to download now. Lauren Bird will launch the single at The Bat With No Name on Friday 28th August. Support comes from Ciara O'Neill and Isobel Anderson.

Owl & Mouse - Don't Read The Classics

It's nice to revisit an artist we haven't featured in years. The last time this blog wrote about the Australian born, London based Hannah Botting, aka Owl & Mouse, was back in 2011 following the release of her first E.P. Since then, she provided guest vocals on Tigercats' cover of "Everywhere" expanded Owl & Mouse into a four-piece. A new full-band E.P is forthcoming, and the first track from it has been released to the public.

For those familiar with the O&M of old, "Don't Read The Classics" will be very welcome, as it strips things back to just the voice and ukulele. The song is a heart-rendering ode about being hurt so badly by someone that you can't even bare to read the books that reminds you of them. It's a song with a great poetic bent to it, so if you like your songs fragile with hearts firmly on sleeve, you'll find something to like in this song.

"Don't Read The Classics" is taken from the E.P "Somewhere To Go", which is released on 23rd June on sky-blue 7" vinyl.

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