Album Review! Birdy - Beautiful Lies

So after a 3 year wait, Birdy has released her 3rd album! I must say, since a friend showed me her cover of Bon Iver's Skinny Love, I have been a massive fan. Her first album consisted of almost all covers, however the song that stood out for me was Without A Word, which Birdy wrote herself. I was excited to hear more of her own songs in her second album Fire Within. She did not disappoint! I found Fire Within was quite an emotional album, which Birdy herself carries off so well.

Now when the single was released from Birdy's 3rd album, Beautiful Lies, I was hooked. The first single was Keeping Your Head Up, which was a lot more upbeat than her usual music. I loved it! It was a great track that had so much potential, it also makes an incredible remix. Much like Wild Horses, one of my favourites on the album and the second single, which has already been turned into a remix, you can listen to both in the playlist at the bottom. 

The album opens with Growing Pains which channels a mixture of Kate Bush and Bjork. It has an element of typical Chinese rhythms and melodies, which create a great hook. Birdy has an incredible range and has lots of angelic harmonies in many of her songs, Shadow and Save Yourself are where you can find the good examples of this. 

Birdy plays the piano, so many of her tracks focus on just her and the piano. These are usually the more emotional numbers like Unbroken, Deep End, Silhouette, and Lost it All, which made me cry the first time I heard it. I also think Lost it All sounds similar to Without a Word and I can relate to it a lot, which is maybe why it's another one of my favourites on the album. 

Beautiful Lies is unlike her previous albums, this time Birdy seems to have focused more on the beat and sound that she wants to create. This has created some really some great tracks on the album, like Lifted, Take My Heart and Hear You Calling. In Hear You Calling again we can hear features of chinese melodies.

The last track on the album is the album title track Beautiful Lies, again Birdy uses piano and simple harmonies to create a soft track to finish the album on, bringing the sound back to where she started almost. 

Release almost a month ago now, Beautiful Lies has been added to my own personal playlist of my favourite albums and been given lots of positive praise which it certainly deserves. Now go have a listen!