Storms are almost a staple of songwriting.
From John Lee Hoooker to The Doors, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to Neil Young, storms have appeared and re-appeared in rock mythology.
Yet for Blackbird And The Storm this wasn't some stock image – it was real. During the recording of their second album, the band were forced to flee the studio are it became submerged underwater.
The banks of a nearby river had burst, with the worst rainfall in a hundred years bearing down on their equipment. Remarkably, songwriter Marie-Juliette Bird had the swift thinking to record the sirens descending upon the studio, using them on album track 'Black Crow':
"The sirens that I used in the beginning of 'Black Crow' – these are flood warning sirens that I had incorporated into the song months before our mixing date. As I was getting ready to leave for the mixing session, the same flood sirens were going off all over town and the rain was pounding down – I felt like I was living inside of my own song. The lyrical hook in the chorus of 'Black Crow' is, simply: ‘The water is rising’. And the water, literally, was rising, all around us."
Infecting the track with an urgent, apocalyptic feel – the crow being a harbinger of death, after all – the results are stark, intrusive fare. Clash is able to premiere the video for 'Black Crow' – check it out below.
'Black Crow' is set to be released on February 17th.
