Album review: Birdy, Beautiful Lies

Jasmine Lucilla van den Bogaerde was just 14 when her cover of Bon Iver’s ‘Skinny Love’ blew up on YouTube. But while the interpretation won her an overnight fan-base, it might have been to the long term detriment of her career, pigeonholing her as it did a purveyor of plangent middle of the road warbling.

Her second collection of completely original material thoroughly demolishes any suggestion that Den Bogaerde — who has wisely embraced the shorter stage name of Birdy — is a simpering mass-market artist.

Instead, it repositions her as a weird and somewhat edgy talent, somewhere between star-crossed folkie Laura Marling and pagan popstress Bat For Lashes.

“Writing with others was not an experience I was familiar with,” she said in 2013, addressing the growing pains of transitioning from a dabbler in music to a professional with a record company planning her future.

“I was shy at the start. Reluctant to show my songs to people. To be honest, I’m never entirely sure if they are good enough. In the beginning, it was challenging. I tried a series of collaborators. They were all very nice. But it doesn’t necessarily work out.”

Lack of confidence is assuredly no longer an issue. This is demonstrated most effectively by the darkly lilting ‘Shadow’, where den Bogaerde’s wispy delivery is carried high by droning synths and by the title track, an open-veined dirge sung from the heart. She’s surprisingly impressive as pop belter in the Adele/Florence vein, as well, delivering a knock out chorus on the overproduced single ‘Keeping Your Head Up’ (a co-write with James Blunt/Shakira writer Steve Mac).

Aged 19, Birdy has stepped confidently outsider her influences and delivered a record that feels more like a reboot than a follow-up to what has gone before. The exclusive club of gad-zillion selling British female singers may be about to get a new member.