As rumors fly about whether Lymington’s Birdy will be the UK’s Eurovision entry, the suspiciously recent release of Raincatcher is everything you want both from a Eurovision song and, more importantly, a Birdy song. In fact, as an earworm homage to what could, quite possibly, be one of the greatest decades of music, Birdy sets the stage for her upcoming album, Portraits, with a killer first single that’s best left on repeat for hours on end.
Combining strings and synths, with the low beat of a backing drum, as soon as Raincatcher starts it’s immediately clear which 80s icon the song tries to conjure. Both beautiful, stirring, and filled with poetic lyricism, it’s Kate Bush through and through with a healthy dose of early-years Tori Amos. However, don’t let that be a suggestion that Birdy’s own artistic appeal is absent from the song. Far be it in fact. While Birdy joins the 80s bandwagon a little later, her own distinct sound merging with the softer elements of Bush’s Cloudbusting days (yes, those strings certainly do sound familiar), it’s clear that Birdy is both herself and a reminiscence. In fact, Raincatcher almost feels like a musical sequel to Cloudbusting. While Bush sings, ‘but every time it rains / you’re here in my head / like the sun coming out’, Birdy’s response feels aptly sung, ‘we used to be raincatchers / and we couldn’t see what we were running from / you made me feel like / nothing really matters’.
Let Raincatchers be the song that gets you hyped for Eurovision (even if rumors let you down). Pulling off Bush in a way that only Bush could do herself, Birdy progresses her sound in every way imaginable and drums up the hype for her upcoming fifth album, Portraits, releasing July 14th.
Raincatches is out now via Warner Music, check out the video below:
