Ready For Takeoff

By Joe Kavanagh

2009 may well be characterized by the Chinese calendar as the year of the ox but as I've frequently mentioned in this column, in terms of music this year will certainly be remembered as the year of the fairer sex, with the continuing emergence of strong, tremendously talented female artists throughout Europe.

Names like Florence Welsh (of Florence And The Machines), Victoria Hesketh (Little Boots) and, most recently, Elly Jackson (one half of La Roux) currently dominating the charts and chatrooms of European music, while across the Irish Sea a cadre of compelling female artists has also marched to the forefront of the national music scene.

While they are not quite the neophytes that their UK counterparts are, names like Imelda May, Julie Feeney and Lisa Hannigan are every bit as ambitious, talented and capable as anything the European music market has to offer, each one vibrantly individualistic and armed with in possession of sufficient star power to ensure their careers will burn long and brightly on the international scene.

Similarly, this week sees the second major release from another budding Irish female star; one that is already falling under the careful scrutiny of a watchful music world that expects much of her sophomore effort. Such is the pressure and price of a talent as unique as that of Wallis Bird.

Born in Co. Meath and raised in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, very little about Wallis Bird could be termed as orthodox, right up to the origin of her unusual name, which in contrast to many other stars, is in fact her own.

Though her mother occasionally likes to claim that the name was inspired by famed US divorcee, Wallis Simpson, who was evidently beautiful enough to force Edward VII to abdicate the English throne, the somewhat less glamorous truth of the matter saw its inspiration arrive when her parents were out driving one day and her pregnant mother noticed a sign for Wallis Coal, and immediately took a shine to the name.

Like her name, music was also awaiting her at birth, given her father's 20-year career as a DJ, and, remarkably, she developed an interest in guitar while only six months old, though she later recalled: "It was never forced on me, I used to dance on it, before I realized you put it round your shoulder." Her burgeoning love for the instrument was nearly cut short, literally and figuratively, when five of the fingers on her left hand were severed as the result of an accident with a lawnmower when she was only 18 months old.

Thankfully, however, doctors managed to reattach four of her digits and within weeks she was back attempting to play despite still being in bandages and suffering more than a degree of pain.

If a silver lining can be found in such a considerable cloud then it was the fact that the naturally left-handed Bird stuck with her right-handed guitar, instead choosing to simply turn it upside down, giving her an incredibly distinct style that would eventually manifest itself as one of the many factors that separated her from the crowd.

With such a unique technique, it is hardly surprising that she is almost exclusively self-taught, though she has absorbed a multitude of methods from other guitarists, and by the time she reached high school she was already playing in bands and had written a litany of songs.

Upon finishing her schooling, and encouraged by her parents, she decided to attend Dublin's Ballyfermot Rock School, later saying of the decision: "After I left school. I thought do I go to college to study something that I'm really not interested in, or do I go and see what I can do with the music? I really had no direction and I think when I was about 18, I started thinking, 'what am I doing?' I didn't want to give up music to work a nine to five, so I went to Music College."

On her first day, she met fellow student, Aoife O'Sullivan and the two became firm friends and musical collaborators in a relationship that endures, both personally and professionally to this day.

By their second year of college, the pair had suitably distinguished themselves that they were chosen to represent their institution on an overseas exchange program with a similar German music school.

Again, the move proved propitious as the two girls became friends with drummer, Christian Vinne, who - along with his brother and bassist, Michael - would eventually form the remainder of Bird's backing band.

Impressed by Germany and the reaction to her music, the two girls made the decision to stay on in the country, moving to the Vinne's hometown of Mannheim, which they used as a base to launch a music career.

The latter comparison would certainly please Bird, who has always been a fan of strong women songwriters, once claiming: "I love jazz and I love women with powerful, gutsy voices. I really looked up to Ani DiFranco when I was growing up. She doesn't give a f*** about anything. She's a really strong woman. You had to listen to her, and she did everything independently. And she's got a huge cult following for that."

Given her near-frenetic live energy, boundless enthusiasm and the heartfelt honesty of her work, it wasn't surprising when her self-released debut EP, Branches Untangle moved over 3,000 copies in Germany alone and reverberated as far away as the offices of major labels in London. Encouraged by the response, Bird and her band relocated to the English capital, where they eventually signed a global contract with Island Records, after wowing executives in a series of showcases.

In September of 2007, Bird made her international debut with the release of Spoons, a beguiling album packed with enough vitality and originality to ensure that it virtually defies description, and the usual label of singer/songwriter seems somewhat redundant given its frequent flourishes into a plethora of different genres.

With tracks about shaving legs, fake boobs and getting rip-roaring drunk, it is a far cry from the sickly sweet songwriting that can sometimes typify the genre, given all the more impetus by Bird's impassioned, distinct style.

She reinforced her success by touring Ireland, Europe and the UK, including stints with Gabrielle and Billy Bragg, who both handpicked her as their support act, and are amongst her most vocal proponents.

Universal Records also fell prey to her charms, placing her beside the aforementioned Bailey Rae and Mary J Blige on a tribute album to Billie Holiday. She also took time out of her busy schedule to record a thoroughly original take on Depeche Mode's Just Can't Get Enough, which although only recorded for a newspaper advertising campaign, went on to become an underground hit, such was the demand for its release as a single in its own right.

This year, she continued her surge toward the top, winning the Hope for 2009 prize at the Irish Meteor Awards, an honor that seems more befitting with every passing day.

Led off by the excellent single, To My Bones, her latest album, New Boots, hits shelves later this week, and far from being an example of an artist suffering from the difficult second album malaise, it is straight up evidence of an act coming into full bloom, exhibiting originality and imagination at every turn, and while some tracks call to mind names like the aforementioned DiFranco and Edie Brickell, there is a distinctiveness and ambition in her sound that makes it all her own.

Explosively dynamic the album oozes star quality with idiosyncratic lyrics, immense harmonies and a musical magnetism that infuses it with the kind of crossover potential which is truly rare in a record by an Irish artist.

Add to this her growing reputation as a captivating live act, and scheduled appearances at virtually all of the summer's major music festivals will surely push her star further into the sky, where it may even burn brightly enough to be seen from shores on the other side of the Atlantic.