The new single from Bird, the musical moniker of Janie Price, explores themes of loss, heartbreak and lingering memories as a relationship unravels. ‘The Film’ opens with moody guitar before Bird delivers her compelling, hypnotic vocals. Musically, ‘The Film’ is typically dream-like, with Bird’s ethereal voice floating above atmospheric textures that pulse and swirl. Some sparkling talents collaborated with Bird, including Mikey Rowe (Oasis, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds) on keys, Grammy Award-winning guitarist Ilya Toshinsky, and arrangements by Sally Herbert (London Grammar). The result is a haunting, immersive track.
Bird says of the song: “When Covid started, I was stuck in Tuscany, Italy…(there are worse places to be stuck!) but all my instruments (and clothes!) were in London – I couldn’t get back to get anything and the lockdown was really strict in Italy. So I bought the cheapest guitar, and uke and table microphone I could find on Amazon, a tiny MIDI keyboard and made a bunch of demos, of which ‘The Film’ was one…I was watching some slightly dubious rom-com film set in London, and it made me so homesick for London, my home city, which for the first time in my life I was physically not allowed to travel back to…so I wrote this song… The lead vocal on the final recording is actually the original one from that demo. I never got close to the emotion behind the vocal, which is very unique and specific to those surreal times we all went through..I had a lot of fun though re-recording and adding to the musical arrangement in America earlier this year when I finally decided to record this track. A personal win for me was playing banjo on the track, which I’ve never recorded before on my own. I had the wonderful Gabe Rhodes in the studio with me, though, so I think that helped.”
This is the first single to be released from Bird’s forthcoming EP, “Strange As Folk”, the follow-up to the well-constructed melancholy of previous single ‘Sunny Days’, which featured on the EP “Heads or Tails”. The two EPs will be part of a limited edition vinyl release, which we can expect in the spring of 2026. After being a featured artist at AmericanaFest this year, Bird will also appear at the Folk Alliance International Conference in New Orleans on the 21st January 2026. Having first picked up the cello aged just six years old, Bird has played in UK youth orchestras, honing her gift and, subsequently, releasing five albums. A classically trained multi-instrumentalist, Bird is able to use her talent and versatility to craft music and shape songs that blend folk and americana into lush, layered cinematic soundscapes. Check it out.
