Jealous of the Birds

BIOGRAPHY

Hailed by NPR for her “remarkable gift for converting spare and common ingredients (voice, acoustic guitar, a bit of whistling) into a sound that’s dense, gently hypnotic and utterly her own,” Naomi Hamilton has recorded and toured as Jealous of the Birds since 2015, earning worldwide critical applause for her intimate lyricism and a dynamic musical approach. Born in Portadown in County Armagh but now based in Belfast, Hamilton first lifted the curtain on Jealous of the Birds’ intensely introspective songcraft with 2015’s Capricorn EP, followed the next year by her acclaimed full-length independent debut, Parma Violets. The album “shatters any preconceived notions,” raved The Irish Times. “Parma Violets progresses from whimsical folk-pop to atmospheric indie post-punk of real substance…Hamilton rises to the occasion time and time again.”

2020’s Peninsula saw Hamilton expanding the scope of her sound and vision on songs like “Young Neanderthal,” “Something Holy,” and the anthemic, optimistic “Pendulum,” their themes enhanced by enveloping atmospherics and dynamic arrangements which veer from stripped-down acoustic minimalism to string-drenched pop and electrifying indie rock.

A true polymath – poet and painter, songwriter and musician – Hamilton spent lockdown working on an array of projects, including the publication of Heat of the Sun, a chapbook of forty poems and photographic work captured on a manual Canon 35mm camera. New music soon emerged, inspired in part by the untamed figure of Walt Whitman, American sensualist, vagabond and laureate of the wild spaces. Armed with potent, patient new songs like “Beginner’s Luck” and “Borderwalker,” Jealous of the Birds set to recording Hinterland at studios in Northern Ireland including Newry’s Big Space Studios and Analogue Catalogue Vintage Recording Studio. Hamilton was joined by longtime collaborator Declan Legge and JOTB core players including Peter Close (bass), Jamie Hewitt (drums), Ciaran Coyle (guitar) and Matt Evans (piano, synths), and cellist Laura McFadden, the latter of whom adds evocative melancholy to the album standout, “Quiet Blues.”