REVIEW: Exploring Birdsong - Every House We Built

EXPLORING BIRDSONG truly have built their rightful home as a genre-fusing band brick by brick, the release of their debut full-length album Every House We Built a new, rock-solid foundation in their expanding estate. Puns aside, this album is a venture that sees the three-piece push themselves to new heights sonically while drawing on real experiences to fuel their impassioned lyrics and performance.

Initially using sparing metaphors for house construction to represent changing relationships, they found the metaphors translated exactly the deep feelings of heartbreak and hope they wanted to depict. Sticking to this theme has seen the band promote the album in the style of tan-suited estate agents, generating delight and intrigue for fans waiting to ‘see their viewing’ with Birdsong Property Developers and the band hosting early listening parties. Successfully creating a buzz ahead of the album release and September tour, let’s open the door and give you the grand tour.

Archipelago kicks off the album with white noise of late night driving during a thunderstorm before lead vocalist and pianist Lynsey Ward breaks through with her soft vocals and a lilting piano scale, changing to her renowned powerhouse voice as she hints at an unavoidable truth as synths and sample drums fall in behind her, everything briefly fading to her whispers and suddenly rushing back in in a swell of sound and pounding drums. Shifting from a ballad to crispier alt-rock vibes, the album’s first release 42 perfectly demonstrated the elevated sound the band have developed, Jonny Knight shredding the bass and dramatic synths as Matt Harrison hammers at the drums while Ward’s vocals soar on words dripping in paranoia, the melody stripping back abruptly as the subject’s perspective shifts and shows how easily doubt can be cast. Romanticise crashes in with a truly catchy beat to lose yourself to, the thundering synths and drums keeping up with the racing lyrics of a vicious cycle of a toxic relationship you keep returning to.

Footprints has a quiet beginning that builds into a melancholic ballad, bursting into a sonic kaleidoscope of thumping drums and uplifting synths as Ward laments for something that was never certain, with rising vocal runs and layered harmonies. Leading in with a slow, solemn intro, Arrhythmia strips back to crushing, gently sung “don’t keep me locked in this house” as piano and synth keys play in tandem, subtly adding more keys and a beat on the second verse before it climbs into an explosion of sound and soft calls. Spy In The House Of Love blurs the edges of genres and time, its 80s style synth and vocals combining with a 90s pop drumbeat and modern bass - contradictory to the heartbreaking lyrics, it’s the type of theme song you’d hear in a feel-good movie. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM9ZBblQn9o

Giving a hint of Bridgerton, I_You is one of the more uplifting tracks on the album in its hopeful and expressive sound with orchestral strings and belting drums, Ward’s vocals fierce and powerful as they remind you of your self-worth over echoes of “I love you”. The Warning drops back into a sombre sound full of yearning that abruptly changes into something dark and dangerous, reminiscent of a relationship that appears smooth on the surface but is turbulent underneath. Knight’s bass rattles through in a staccato fashion adding a heaviness to the emotion of the track as agonized strings climb to a frenzied pitch. You Like It Best When It Hurts is the furthest the band has treaded into heavier music, weaving together an operatic metal sound with Ward’s voice pitching lower as she asks in frustration “is that what you want?”, Harrison driving through with a pulverising beat mirroring the dropped bass notes, the aggression palpable.

Cartography focuses on the sadder aspects of a fractured foundation, the low synths and swelling strings working in parallel to the simple piano keys that feel both mournful and resigned to their fate, the words ringing out about things breaking down and a vulnerable pleading of “can someone come and take me home”. Title track Every House We Built starts with a synth riff under dejected vocals “anchored down by the weight of the words that passed right through your lips”, the reserved drums and strings gradually joining before it all crests in volume and descends again, finally reaching a crescendo of harmonised yells and instrumentals that feel defiant even as the walls crumble down. Meadowlands doesn’t just close out the album, it breaks ground on new beginnings and the hopefulness that these things will pass, Ward singing over a lone piano “I’m here with you, you’re here with me”, Harrison and Knight joining forces and crashing back together before the album fades out to a distant piano, the gathering silence a moment to reflect and wonder what comes next.

Score: 8/10

Every House We Built will be released on 26th June 2026 via Long Branch Records.

Words: Julia Stark

Photos: Exploring Birdsong