life is too short to listen to old music
Amateur Ornithologist
Amateur Ornithologist
country: UK
genre: Indie
styles: Bedroom Pop, Art Pop, Art Rock, New Wave, Alternative Pop
A Better Person
Single
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Reviews and Comments
Amateur Ornithologist remembers A Better Person on Friday 29th July, with the release of his latest single.
A Better Person is a left-turn for Amateur Ornithologist, a touching miniature ballad utilising just piano, viola, bass and vocals.
The single is the third from Amateur Ornithologist's forthcoming album Building the Bird, following recent releases Hermit Phase and I Told A Lie. These tracks received airplay on BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio and a host of other stations. Reviewers have highlighted "a flurry of harmonies and a slew of sonic oddities" (Find No Enemy), "production and songwriting [that] harks back to that era of classic pop music" (York Calling) and "doo-wop backing vocals and open-hearted lyrics" (Music for Misfits).
A Better Person is a softer, more intimate song than previous Amateur Ornithologist releases, centring on a piano part with an off-kilter, nostalgic sound achieved by playing it through a tape deck. Undulating vocal harmonies complete the backdrop for the lead vocal's vulnerable lamentation, before being joined by Madeleine Smyth's mournful viola and producer Harbourmaster's jazz-inspired bass part.
The song is about, and dedicated to, Daniel's mother and late grandmother, and the relationship between the pair. The title refers to a phrase Daniel's grandmother would chuckle whenever anyone mentioned her daughter looked or acted like her, "Couldn't be like a better person".
A Better Person continues the 2022's journey through Amateur Ornithologist's slightly out-of-step mentality and experience. Next stop September, when Amateur Ornithologist returns with the final single from Building the Bird.
A Better Person is released digitally by Harbourmaster Recordings on Friday 29th July.
latest releases
Single
If It Looks Like Magic
out on November 24, 2023
via Regret Everything Records
LP
Building the Bird
out on October 21, 2022
via Harbourmaster Records / Regret Everything Records
Single
Sunscreen
out on September 09, 2022
via Harbourmaster Records
Single
I Told A Lie
out on June 17, 2022
via Harbourmaster Records
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Hermit Phase
out on May 06, 2022
via Harbourmaster Records
