My first meeting with Wallis Bird was at the Set Theatre, Kilkenny, when she supported Rodrigo and Gabiella and she left a great impression on me with her sheer life force and energy. We spoke after and it was all too brief, but we promised to chat further again.
Little did we know that it would be almost 12 years later before that happened.
Needless to say, we made up for lost time in our chat, but focused mostly on her current project, the wonderful album “Hands”, which has the subtitle “Nine And A Half Songs For Nine And A Half Fingers”. She’s a lively conversationalist and engaged deep in her art and craft. As you’ve come to expect, we did wander in and out of things. Berlin-based for some time now, she produced what she regards herself as an experimental album. We chatted about the making of the album and more besides.
Wallis has been a prolific, highly regarded musician for some time. Her live shows are full of passion, energy and emotion and her latest album is a further example of her restless, questioning creative sprit. Cannot recommend it highly enough…
There are some online/web/wifi squeaks and wobbles along the way, so there are some edits involved, but it’s largely how we started and finished.
