Q&A: Baird Talks Rounding Off the Genre-Defying 'BIRDSONGS' Trilogy
SINGER, MULTI-INTRUMENTALIST AND PRODUCER BAIRD has returned with the final installment of the BIRDSONGS trilogy. The Baltimore native and LA-based artist sought to use this trilogy as a point of entry into the ever-shifting music industry, and BIRDSONGS Vol.3 is the summation of his producing prowess, inarguable talent, and penchant for creating engaging genre-melding music.
BIRDSONGS Vol.3 follows in its predecessors' steps with Baird’s distinct take on blissful bossa nova with drops of indie-pop, neo-soul, and a whole host of other intriguing musical choices that still manage to encapsulate his best qualities as an artist. There is “Backboard”, a combination of eccentric electronic sounds with rich percussion, the dreamy and aptly titled “Sunset (prelude)” where Baird’s flair for imaginative lyricism is undeniably clear, and “On My Mind Pt.2” which tinkers with cacophony and melody in inventive ways that turn the five-minute track into only what could be described as an enveloping sonic journey. It suffices to say, BIRDSONGS Vol.3 is Baird at his most dialed-in and incalculably creative.
Baird’s ability to capture a specific sound and infuse it with his own artistic identity landed the relative newcomer collaborations with Berhanna, Arlo Parks and BROCKHAMPTON. Baird is also gearing up to start taking on more live shows having already performed at SXSW’s Urban Outfitters stage alongside Japanese Breakfast and Niko Rubio.
In view of the record’s release and these considerable career feats, Luna had an interview with Baird about the project, the origins of the trilogy and his experiences in the industry over the last few years.
LUNA: How's it been to start making music again in a bit more of an open environment, as opposed to like hard restrictions during the height of COVID?
BAIRD: It's much better, I would say it's been great. I've really gotten into collaboration since I started living in Los Angeles over the last two years - right at the start of the pandemic - it's really changed my approach to things. So, it's been really good. And I've learned a lot, but I still really cherish time alone to work by myself. It’s about balance, but it's really great in a lot of ways, and you learn a lot of things that you wouldn't otherwise. I appreciate being able to collaborate and being able to not be super restricted COVID-wise.
LUNA: So, you've had a great last year. you've made a lot of feats in your career. Does it feel super overwhelming or are just enjoying the ride right now?
BAIRD: Definitely, just enjoying the ride. I feel like I've done a little bit, but I want to do a lot. It's been fun but there are a lot of things I still want to do, for sure. It feels like I'm starting to kind of get my feet wet. But we'll see. I mean, like with live shows, I've only played a handful of live shows and I've got a couple coming up. But I want to go on tour and I want to like help produce a lot of albums this year. Me and my brother have this side project and we're planning on putting out three albums this year, so kinda just want to keep it moving, you know?
LUNA: Are you excited to tour and be in more live atmospheres or are you kind of apprehensive about everything being in person?
BAIRD: No, I'm super excited. I think maybe I would have been worried about it like a year ago. But it's, it's like, what do you have to lose? I just try to make the live show as fun as possible and more of its own thing. I wouldn't want it to be this thing of here's my precious songs, my artwork, and I hope you understand it. I want it to be fun. If you've had a bad day at work, and you just want to come to a show, and you've never heard my music before you’ll still enjoy it. You can dance, move to it or you can sing along with some of the melodies. I just want to be entertaining. So, I've seen it as a way to take some of the pressure off the “art” side of it.
LUNA: You wrote in your Spotify that the trilogy that you made is your “foot in the door”. How do you feel now that that part is concluding?
BAIRD: I'm in the house [laughs]. I had no idea what to put in my Spotify bio, so I was like, this is like the first step. I guess this is the first chapter but now I feel a huge sense of relief, actually, because things have gone well and I'm kind of ending up in the position that I wanted to be in. I feel like really lucky.
LUNA: BIRDSONGS Vol.3 feels like a great combination of like the other two volumes in terms of bringing these sounds together, especially with your discography thus far. Was it difficult trying to find a specific concluding sound to the trilogy?
BAIRD: It definitely took more time and I put more work into this project on the other two, for sure. I didn't think of it as much as combining them as much as just making the best version of what I can make. It's sort of my approximation of pop music if that makes sense. I don't know. I definitely played with the tracklist a lot more with this one than ever before. It was the first time I'm putting out a project where I had three or four tracks that I really love that didn't make it and a lot of ideas and half-baked things could be repurposed. I wanted to get the last part right so I took my time with it and put more into this one than the previous ones. Also, I've had better tools to use for this project because my brother and I started renting a studio together. It's really just a warehouse but we kind of turned it into a studio. So now I have things at my disposal that I didn't have for the first two volumes, like a drum set and a synthesizer and my brother's vocal mic, which sounds really good. With the first two volumes, I was using this $80 mic that didn't really sound very good but I was trying to finesse it to make it work.
LUNA: Who were you listening to while you're making the final BIRDSONGS?
BAIRD: So many people. I mean, it's taken a long time to make it so I feel like each week I have a new favorite. At the outset, I wrote an artist statement to sort of guide myself and some of the names in that were Caetano Veloso, Joni Mitchell, these like beacons of greatness to aspire to climb towards. Also, I was heavy into Earl Sweatshirt and Mavi and that whole scene of super lyrical but not pretentious rap. Not that I am doing that, but it is an inspiration. Then Dirty Projectors also is a band that I grew up loving, and then sort of stopped listening to and then came back to.
LUNA: I think the biggest question that's probably on most people's minds is why BIRDSONGS?
BAIRD: I was producing for a while beforehand, like not writing songs and I wanted to create something that was a template for me. Initially, I wasn't sure if it'd be two or three volumes, but then I thought, okay, the only way to get good at something is just to do it a lot. So, I thought I should put out tons of songs where I'm actually singing and writing songs and that's just a whole new challenge, right? I was thinking “Baird Songs” but that's kind of boring, but BIRDSONGS songs is kind of funny. It's as if you expect to click and it just plays five minutes of [imitates birdsongs]. The other side of it is I'm from Baltimore. I grew up being a huge fan of like the Baltimore Orioles, which is our baseball team, and then the Ravens football team. It's sort of secretly converting people to be Orioles fans because they've been the worst team in baseball for like three years. The volume thing just gives it structure and makes it a sketchbook for me. I also made these shirts that say “word for the birds” because people in Baltimore talk about the Orioles as the birds. On top of that, my mom is a big bird lover and birdwatcher and she is always texting me photos of birds.
LUNA: With the sound of the music that you've been making, it is very blissful and it does feel like birdwatching with a little bit of an edge. But at the same time, you’re also part of creating something like “Don't Shoot Up the Party”. How do you transition between those like very specific sounds and traits as a producer and as a songwriter?
BAIRD: Well, I guess I'm still figuring it out. I'm still just trying to figure out what my role is. With my music, it's sort of me-centric and I can distill it down to the things that I'm most excited about in that moment. Whereas working on a BROCKHAMPTON record, there are probably six or seven people in the room. I did some of the drums on that one and some of the guitar, but I just tried to be helpful where I can. I think making music for people to dance to is important so, I was psyched that they wanted to put that one on the record because I was vying for that one.
LUNA: Do you have any specific traits that you want to be known as something specific to Baird?
BAIRD: My friend told me the other day, “you always put distortion on your drums”. I do always do that. I think distorted drums and good chords. But I don't know, I'm still figuring it out. I try to focus on the guitar stuff because that's my main instrument so I want to have nice guitar lines and stuff. I think ideally, it would be you listen to something and you could hear think, “oh, that’s so Baird”.
LUNA: I have to ask about “Lianne” – the interpolated version of “Please Don’t Make Me Cry” – I always wonder what it is for artists about certain songs that make them think this is the song that I have to put on my album. What was it about that song specifically?
BAIRD: I listened to the Lianne La Havas self-titled album on loop during the pandemic. She's the GOAT me, she's one of the best. I was kind of primed to do something interpolating her melodies. I made the beat and then I was playing the chords and realized that's already a melody and thought why don't I just sing it rather than trying to write some new on it? It just fell into place and in the end, it turned out pretty different. I didn't really use the whole verse but I was like, I'm not going to fight this and it feels right. It feels different enough that I thought we could put this out. At first, I didn’t want to put that on the project because I wanted it to be all originals, but then enough people kept saying that one should definitely go on it.
LUNA: Okay last question: who are some artists dead or alive that you love to collaborate with?
BAIRD: Dead or alive that opens up a lot. Well alive, Ravyn Lenae - really cool and kind of underrated. I am working with a lot of people who I really love to work with but Lianne La Havas would be amazing. Dead? Probably Aaliyah. Maybe Arthur Verocai if we're talking Brazilian stuff - he's a pretty amazing Brazilian artist. He's done some stuff with BadBadNotGood and I could throw them in there too. But for the most part, I'm really happy working with the people that I'm working with. I'm at this camp right now, where we’re working for a weekend making this album and I’m really excited about it and then I'm making a bunch of stuff with my brother, as I mentioned. I'm just, like, excited to be just where I'm at.
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