Becky & the Birds

Thea Gustafsson — who writes, records, and produces under the moniker Becky and the Birds — is a disciplined person by nature, with her formal musical education at Musikmakarna Songwriters Academy of Sweden and avid violin-playing as a child inspiring her unending need for perfectionism. This rigid mindset deeply implanted itself in her craft and her life, though she refreshingly doesn't see the point in holding herself to these standards as of late. This newfound freedom and change in pace are what made the debut Becky and the Birds album, ONLY MUSIC MAKES ME CRY NOW (due November 15), possible. In abandoning self-imposed expectation and being more open toward experimentation, Gustafsson has turned a new leaf, giving herself a chance to get out of her own head and make something led by an inherent trust in herself.

From her home in Stockholm, Gustafsson reflects on the grounding quality of nature, explaining how the changing of the seasons inspires her, reminding her of life's malleability and persistent beauty. She prefers winter above all, as she spends most of her days during the colder months (as do most Swedes) holed up inside, in a mode of creative hypnosis. In the stillness, these are the moments when she feels most in her body, and most capable of reflection and channeling feeling in her art. Thus, she found the OMMMCN's backbone take form on days when the sun might've peaked through the clouds for an hour at most, during a reprieve when she would traipse through the sludge of the frigid wasteland outside her door, watching the light bounce off the snow.

Self-belief and fearlessness are the core tenets that have always shaped the direction of Gustafsson's art. Early in her professional career, Gustafsson recalls having felt a nagging sense of frustration while perched on couches in the back of studios, watching (what would primarily be male) producers fail at capturing what she was looking for. Despite lacking concrete technical knowledge and with a deep dislike of YouTube tutorials, Gustafsson took a leap of faith, beginning her own journey in production on a try-by-doing basis in 2016. "I just got very sick of being pushed back and decided to make something for myself," she recalls. Using her ear as a beacon and trusting her gut, she quickly found a sense of comfortability in production, utilizing this process to commandeer her own musical destiny without fear. Soon thereafter, she composed the first Becky and the Birds self-titled EP (2018) and its follow-up Trasslig (2020, 4AD). In the time since, she has also collaborated with the likes of Dijon, Seinabo Sey, and Lapsley, among others.

With her earlier projects, Gustafsson recalls feeling brave enough to create without boundaries, without thinking about what anyone else would think. When laying the groundwork for OMMMCN in 2022, she reminded herself to go back to that same headspace: "As you know more and are known more, it becomes a process of learning to be brave again. You still need to find a place within yourself where you can 'dance like no one's watching,'" she laughs. In pushing herself to try new things within this framework, Gustafsson's innovative and distinct production style shines more than ever today, this being what predominantly sets the newest Becky and the Birds album apart. With tracks such as the ultra-layered and complex "everything," she creates sonic worlds with the intention of staying curious and eager, a student of the craft despite her growing wealth of experience. In this way, she can continue to keep things fun, light, interesting, and above all, brave.

During the early days of OMMMCN's creation, Gustafsson found herself needing to be brave in general, as she had just experienced the end of a relationship. In this turbulent moment — a period of starting over, re-establishing her individual self, and discovering what "home" meant to her — she felt inspired more than ever to create, to let it all out. "It's cliche to say that [writing] can be a sort of therapy, but it really is," she admits. "When I write about things going on in my life, this is my way actualizing them and finally processing. I needed to get it out of my body to take it all in." OMMMCN thusly allows listeners to follow Gustafsson through this time of intense healing, covering the painful process of moving on without looking back on tracks such as "Won't Do That." Songs such as this find her obtaining newfound clarity, making space for ugly feelings such as grief and resentment but also giving herself grace throughout the process, reminiscing but never actually returning to that painful place. "I used to cry for love / But I'm tired of tears," she laments on the record's closing title-track, shutting that chapter of her life with finality.

Aiming to completely wipe the slate, Gustafsson also picked up her life physically during the writing process of OMMMCN, bouncing between London and Stockholm. Gaining insight from fuzzed-out West End club nights and dingy pubs showcasing obscure indie bands, she felt a deep sense of inspiration and embraced English music (from grunge to grime to hyper-pop) with open arms. During this period, she also continuously added to her collection of sampleable sound bites with the natural noise of bustling city life, as well as recordings from old phone conversations, demos, and voice memos (pieces of which can be heard throughout the record). This wide array of sonic material — combined with thematic influence from media she'd been consuming such Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine, Charlotte Wells' Aftersun, and Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth — helped her shape the exploratory, desperate, passionate, romantic, and heart-wrenchingly vulnerable themes woven throughout the album.

In the aftermath of its creation, Gustafsson feels as though she's finally arrived "home," able to open her heart to new and stabilizing relationships, in large part due to the growth she's experienced throughout this process. Lead single, "when she holds me," touches on this positive change, additionally invoking Gustafsson's beloved snowy landscapes on a sonic level — sometimes, the cold winter air can feel like a smack in the face; here, she finds Jack Frost at his most tender amidst the track's delicate finger-plucked strings and airy, soft-spoken vocals: "The world is wishing me well / As her fingers run through my hair."

Currently, Gustafsson is reaping the rewards of an intense period of reflection and growth, releasing the tension she's felt alongside forces who make her feel truly at peace. Today, she presents herself in advanced and contemplative form via an ethereal, erratic, heavy-hitting, and hypnotic collection of some of her best Becky and the Birds material to date.

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Thea Gustafsson is a jack of all trades. Writing, recording, and self-producing under the moniker Becky and the Birds, she has recently turned a new leaf, entering an era of creative freedom and emotional release with her forthcoming debut album, ONLY MUSIC MAKES ME CRY NOW (due November 15).

Gustafsson — who kickstarted her musical career as Becky and the Birds in 2016 after taking on production with sheer self-determination and a vision — began laying the groundwork for her upcoming album in 2021. At that time, her creative process was largely informed by a wide array of sources, including: insight from past collaborations with Dijon, Seinabo Sey, and Lapsley; obscure Bandcamp deep-dives; visits to live sets at clubs and dive bars across her two homes at that time, London and her native Stockholm; a variety of media fixations (including Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine, Charlotte Wells' Aftersun, and Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth); and the crushing vortex of emotions she had been encountering in the aftermath of a life-altering breakup. During that time, she needed to "let it all out to take it all in," motivating her to return to the studio as a means wipe the slate completely clean and fully process everything she was experiencing. The songs she crafted during this period, which later became OMMMCN, therefore allow listeners to follow her through that time of intense healing, with the record's exploratory, desperate, passionate, romantic, and heart-wrenchingly vulnerable lyrical backbone supported by a varied collection of sampled audio-bites from her everyday life (from old demos and phone recordings to natural city noise).

With ONLY MUSIC MAKES ME CRY NOW, Gustafsson has returned to her roots, recalling the carefree, experimental mindset she inhabited when she first picked up producing, in addition to utilizing the boundless skills she's gained since then. With this newest collection of ethereal, erratic, heavy-hitting, and hypnotic tracks, she creates sonic worlds with the intention of staying curious, eager, and above all, brave. In retaining her universal drive to push the boundaries of her production, her innovative and distinct style shines more than ever today. With her new record, she forges forward with some of her best Becky and the Birds material to date.