LEAH KARDOS

New Single: Bird Rib



It started when I accidentally loaded an old master tape of Feather Hammer into the machine backwards at work (forgot it was stored 'tails out'), and I kinda loved the sound of it. I ripped it to pro tools and took it away with me. Stretched and reflected and now strange but still completely familiar - I was so drawn to it. I set up a mic on a piano and improvised along - from this game I found the starting points for a few new pieces which will hopefully form a new EP (out in early 2020, fingers crossed).

Following this process, 'Bird Rib' is in response to a backwards half speed (7ips) version of 'DFACE (Practice this Video)'.



The piano is the one in my office - freshly tuned and miced closely with a single condenser (Bluebird SL) bang in the middle, chained through two compressors to get that blown-out tone - once I put it through a tremolo effect it took on this sticky gooey cloying effect which I really loved. It’s mostly multi-tracked and treated piano parts, with additional Volca Keys and some soft Mellotron choirs in the back. Bird Rib is a palindrome, and the music has reflective elements built into its structure; left/right, up/down, front and back.

The title Bird Rib also reminds me of a small bird’s rib cage - an impossibly intricate structure of fine bones, or the idea that my heart could be a caged bird that lives in my chest, fluttering and singing from time to time.

Take a listen to "Bird Rib" above, or find your preferred streaming source here: https://smarturl.it/BirdRib. It's the 4th single released from Bigo & Twigetti's wonderful Scale compilation. Worth listening to in full from start to finish, I promise you.