The crowd was suddenly drawn in with a powerful sense of vulnerability in ‘Hands Of Orlac’, a track taken from Birdeatsbaby‘s new album. Violins slowly simmered as a creeping presence took hold before an aggressive kick from the bass shook the room as ethereal harmonies between Mishkin and Tessa ascended. ‘Drinking In The Day’ returned us to the brutal honesty of personal angst which Birdeatsbaby seem so apt at defining. This placed the set on a razor sharp edge by easing us in with stripped back keyboards.  Although it is a tale of drowning sorrows,  a twenty-four hour drinking stint would take its toll on anyone, so one of the questions I had put to Mishkin beforehand included what her drink of choice would be if she ever took the song literally. “Oh God! All day? It would most probably be beer, but a nice beer” was the answer.

The haunting single ‘Ghosts’ has so far been a successful single from The Bullet Within. Mishkin buried her head in her hands to stifle the laughter when I unexpectedly asked her if she had actually ever seen a ghost, to which she replied with a demure ‘no’, but we did reach the conclusion that if any spirit were to pop out at any given point during our interview it would have to be Jimi Hendrix as he would most probably just chill out with us (Freddie Mercury was considered but we figured he would just be all over the place). “This song is about dead people” was the introduction ‘Ghosts’ received before the crowd became entranced, hanging on to every delicate note of the noir-rock track as Mishkin demonstrated the full talent of her vocals while Garry provided the dark heart of the ballad with a double bass.

I had previously asked Mishkin what song she wish she had written, to which she had replied ‘Life On Mars’; however, I wasn’t expecting Birdeatsbaby to pull out a cover of it as part of their encore. Placing the whole arrangement in a minor, I deeply regret that I only had the one chance to hear this version with vocals that directly challenged Bowie’s own ability. The additional violins captured the tragedy within the message of the song , creating a deeply moving cover.

As Birdeatsbaby soared through their set in the candlelit venue, a huge sense of inspiration washed over me.  Not afraid to take risks, the foursome have managed to carve out their very own genre, incorporating classical training into noir-indie-rock with all the theatrics of a Cabaret – their live performance really did take us all on a dark, psychedelic journey.  If they succeeded in inspiring the audience, how do they find inspiration for themselves?   “I’m actually a piano teacher as well, so I’m always learning my student’s pieces and loads and loads of classical music – I’m constantly absorbing it, so that’s really where my inspiration comes from. I don’t generally think I’m running out…it’s [her brain] always going, it never switches off” . We can only hope that the ‘Off’ switch is never found.

The Bullet Within is the third album from the Brighton band and is out today, 14th July.

 

Nicky Lee-Delisle

@ManicNicky