Birds Are Better Is Introducing Their New Era With ‘Marigold’

Stian Fjelldal has been a popular singer, songwriter and producer throughout Norway for over a decade.

He made a name for himself with a couple albums in the 2010s, only performing in Dutch. The singer has now developed a new persona that is soaked in creativity and a whole new sound.

Fjelldal has now become Birds Are Better, a soft indie rock performer that has just released their second single ‘Marigold’. This new era for the singer is now in English, he has stated he founded the project “as the result of a writer’s block and a fair amount of frustration struggling to find my place in the Norwegian singer/songwriter landscape writing songs and singing in my distinct southern Norwegian dialect. So I gave English a go.”

From his living room in Oslo he partnered with producer Håkon Gebhardt in Florence, Italy and developed a track that tells a compelling story. ‘Marigolds’ opens softly with the picking of a guitar and a simple beat that explodes into a sound that is like looking at a sunset in a coming-of-age film. The single’s atmosphere builds with very soft piano and drums creating a sound that is the definition of “indie rock”. This world expands even more in the second verse with a tambourine-like beat added. The song is so sweet sounding but does give off the vibe that it was created in their living room.

There is a lot of alt-folk influence here, from the instrumentation to the storytelling lyrics, very similar to Of Monsters and Men. Lyrically, it seems to be very sociological, telling the classic tale of “grass is always greener on the other side” but once on the other side it’s not what the singer expected. The story even has a slightly disturbing twist ending, using the marigold metaphor to its origins as “the flower of the dead”. Fjelldal’s vocals are very deep and soothing, which perfectly compliments the dark lyrics over a pretty sound.

Overall, the tune is so pretty that the listener won’t be able to pick out the dark storytelling until after a couple listens. It’s an easy track to leave on repeat for hours. Birds Are Better have promised more music to come in 2023, so there will be more to listen to on repeat for fans.

Hope Orr

@hopeirene17

Image: Official Birds Are Better Press Photo