Becky and the Birds, the moniker of Swedish producer Thea Gustafsson, releases new single ‘Paris’ today. Her third single for 4AD, Gustafsson’s multi-layered falsetto slowly winds itself into a minimal lovelorn ballad.
‘Paris’ is accompanied by visuals created by Thea Gustafsson. She explains, “I wrote this song in a hotel room in the centre of Paris. I was there to have a good time and to free my thoughts for a minute but couldn’t stop thinking about one special person back home. This song is about those feelings when you’re trying hard to not think about someone or something, and you think that the distance between you will help that. But then you realise that distance does, in fact, make the heart grow fonder.”
Written and produced by Gustafsson, ‘Paris’ follows the singles ‘Wondering’ and ‘Do U Miss Me’, all of which feature on the forthcoming Becky And The Birds EP Trasslig, which will be released digitally on 12 June. Gustafsson uses Becky And The Birds as an outlet for songs about complex women – strong, independent, sensitive and romantic women – and Trasslig (Swedish for “entangled, messy, intricate”) echoes that sentiment. She says, “people are scared of women who could be both powerful and vulnerable at the same time, and there’s no space for that. But it’s okay to be trasslig, to be all the parts of yourself.”
Born in Örebro, Sweden, Thea’s life has always been steeped in music, whether following her father’s career as an accordionist or his passion for jazz and soul; her sister’s love of 90s R&B and hip-hop; or through her own experiences playing violin as a child and composing pieces for orchestras. It’s little surprise she has absorbed all she’s been exposed to but it takes a rare talent to channel all of this into such a striking EP of lush, polished songs.
