Northumberland-born singer Jade Bird’s self-titled debut album was chock full of gorgeous acoustic guitar and Americana-influenced vocals and songwriting. It reached the top ten of the UK albums chart, and topped the UK Americana chart, making Bird a rising star in the field of contemporary country music. And so, when she decamped to New York and Nashville to work on a followup, it seemed likely that Bird would continue in a similar vein. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 

And yet, the record that Bird’s move to the USA has spawned is actually a very different beast. 

DKOL begins things in ethereal fashion, an atmospheric, dream-like intro which feeds into Open Up The Heavens, an initially surprising alt-rock affair that thunders along. By the time the pounding drums of Honeymoon have cleared the air, it’s clear that this is a very different artist – Bird’s range and scope have widened considerably.

There’s no let up in her songwriting though. The album’s title track burns with feeling, while Houdini cleverly switches narrators to tell the story of a bitter argument, indeed a breakup. Bird has talked about sections of the song being inspired by her parents fighting when she was young, and it’s one of the record’s real heavyweight blows and still most overtly ‘country’ tracks (“It's a quarter to three / And it's clear, clear to me that you're leaving / Usually we don’t come, come to blows ‘til the evening”).

Elsewhere, 1994 channels Brit pop influences, while Candidate builds from a gentle start into a rousing chorus, and Now Is The Time carries a sparkling, sixties feel. The album’s final track, Headstart, closes things in style, a gliding riff that sends the verses off into a big chorus, which takes Bird’s already fantastic vocals to new highs. It’s a delight of a track on an equally delightful album.

Different Kinds Of Light tracklist:

1. DKOL
2. Open Up The Heavens
3. Honeymoon
4. Punchline
5. Different Kinds Of Light
6. Trick Mirror
7. I’m Getting Lost
8. Houdini
9. 1994
10. Now Is The Time
11. Candidate
12. Red White And Blue
13. Rely On
14. Prototype
15. Headstart

The official music video for Headstart. 

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.