“I remember looking up at my dad as he spun vinyl around in his hands, smiling down at me, then the needle came down, music started playing, and he began to silly dance to me!”
“I remember a huge sense of good feeling in me. I thought ‘whatever this is, it makes my dad REALLY happy.” I must have been only a toddler. He still looks at me with that mischievous face when he’s listening to that good ol’ rock and roll! As I got older we moved house and had a billiard room which we often weren’t allowed into—where the vinyl lived. My parents were out for the night and my brothers started playing Dire Straits’ “IIIII want my MTVVVVV,” and they’d turn off the lights for the intro.
It frightened the shit out of me, and that’s when I realized the power of atmosphere in song. That same night they were messing with me because we were explicitly told to be very, very careful with the vinyl and my brother Edgar was being a brat and putting 2 records on top of each other, slowing it down and generally making the LP sound like a demon or a chipmunk. I was curious and scared of vinyl for a long time, because in the hands of the right person (or wrong person!) it could be pleasurable or horrifying to me.
Music was constantly playing in the house. When there was silence it was extremely noticeable. We robbed my father and his brother John’s vinyl as they used to DJ around Ireland as ‘Sounds International’ with an extensive selection of rock and pop, as well as my dad’s own personal love for field recordings, avant-garde, comedy shows, and radio novellas and such. So we all robbed from his collection before we came into our own tastes and spending money. My brother Edgar and sister Patricia are vinylphiles to this day and the rest of us are either avid collectors of vinyl or slowly catching back up!
I listen in my house—in the hallway there’s a player which is like the house radio. My friend Aidan always has his on—many house parties I’ve attended are using vinyl strictly—so I’m hearing full albums rather than tracks, which makes for gorgeous conversation with the people choosing the music.
My first record on vinyl (self titled album) made me realize my own personal need to write an album almost in 2 parts, and funnily, when I’m playing live I tend to direct my stage show through vinyl… I only just realized that now—thanks!”
—Wallis Bird
WOMAN, the new release from Wallis Bird arrives in stores on September 27, 2019—on vinyl.
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PHOTO: JENS OELLERMANN
