It’s only ornithology, but I like it

By Hazel Sheffield

What is it with indie rockers and birdwatching? Guy Garvey of Elbow and Marc Riley of The Fall made a radio show about a quest for quail in the Shetlands; Jarvis Cocker and British Sea Power once went into Thetford Forest to see the nightjars. But none can match Brian Briggs, frontman of Stornoway, who met his bandmates as a fresher reading zoology at Oxford, before doing a PhD in ornithology. On Stornoway’s first album, “Beachcomber’s Windowsill”, he sang about spending hot summer nights watching birds in his garden. Their third album, “Bonxie”, features the tweeting of 20 species, starting with geese honking on the hymn-like “Between the Saltmarsh and the Sea”. The concept is nice, but it’s the big melodies, bolstered by brass and strings, that will stand out at this year’s festivals. “Love Song of the Beta Male” could almost be The Divine Comedy, and “We Were Giants” imagines a couple looking at the curvature of the Earth, clouds around their ankles. When Briggs sings “this is the world that we belong to”, the music is full of wonder. ~ Hazel Sheffield

Bonxie Apr 13th in Europe, Apr 14th North America