Live Review: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs releases birdsong-inspired new EP

28 May 2020 | 12:34 pm | Emma Jones

Inspired by his friends' reports of hearing birdsongs louder than ever, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs returns with an ambient new EP.

All over the world, cities have turned into ghost towns due to self-isolation and social distancing. There have been many obvious issues and challenges that have come from this, but one small benefit I have noticed is the clear impact the whole "lack of humans" thing is having on our environment. From waterways being clearer than ever to actually being able to see stars in the night sky, there is no denying there is a tangible link between us staying home and nature healing itself (memes and fake viral posts aside).

Another element of this has been reports that for the first time in a long time, or maybe even ever, birds have been heard in cities louder than before. Though this is more attributed to lack of competing noise pollution than birds making new homes in urban areas, it has been something of a faint silver lining to hear these birdsongs while being cooped up at home all day every day. And it seems none other than TOTALLY ENORMOUS EXTINCT DINOSAURS agrees.

Releasing a surprise new EP this week, the acclaimed producer has channeled the inspiration of these birdsongs into four tracks. To create the ambient release, he used field recordings of birdsongs from London’s Brockley, Los Angeles, Australia’s Bundeena, and The Canary Islands to create the aptly titled I Can Hear The Birds EP, and the result is simply beautiful.

Speaking of the new release, TEED said, "On 22nd March a friend sent me a recording of the birds that were keeping her awake in the Canary Islands. It was early in this story and anxiety was high, so I took the recording and made some music to it as a present to send back, a hug, and an exercise to take my mind off the obvious. The next day I spoke to a friend in South London who like many of us was commenting on the volume of the birdsong in his garden, so I asked for a recording of that too, and he woke at dawn the next day and sent me blackbirds, house sparrows, and a great tit. I sent him music a day or two later. Working on my existing musical projects was proving difficult and so this pattern of receiving bird recordings from friends and sending them back songs emerged as a welcome practice."

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"On 15th April my friend Jon Wright of Sports Banger, aware of my project, showed me a drawing a kid had done on the letter Boris Johnson had sent out to every UK household. On it were colourful birds and 'bum face boris bollocks.' Also the words 'I can hear the birds again'. So I took that as a sign that I should finish this music, and release it as an EP called 'I can hear the birds'."

Tipped to have plenty more still to come this year, I Can Hear The Birds is exactly the right thing we need right now in a time of feeling more disconnected than ever. Listen to the EP below:

I Can Hear The Birds is out now via I OH YOU/ Liberator Music.

Words by Emma Jones

Image: Pia Riverola

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