Birdie

London's Birdie blended timeless indie pop craftsmanship with polished production and affectionate singing. The project brought together Debsey Wykes, the indie pop pioneer from Dolly Mixture, and Martin Kelly, formerly of East Village. The duo released two albums in the late 1990s, Some Dusty and Triple Echo, which created considerable attention, yet afterward they emerged from semi-retirement only sporadically for live appearances or isolated tracks.

Wykes had performed with the legendary Dolly Mixture during the early 1980s, while Kelly played in East Village, a respected jangle pop outfit active toward the close of that decade before dissolving in the early 1990s. The pair first connected as touring musicians with Saint Etienne in 1994. They quickly bonded over a shared admiration for Burt Bacharach, 1960s sunshine pop, and soft rock. Once the tour concluded, they started recording at home, and the promising results led them into a proper studio to cut “Spiral Staircase” and “Port Sunlight.” Summershine Records promptly issued the tracks as a single in 1997. This success earned them the opportunity to record a full album for London's it Records.

Working with producer Brian O'Shaughnessy, string arranger Sean O'Hagen of High Llamas, and drummer Wildcat Will, they assembled a collection of relaxed, warm, and sunny pop songs. Kelly played all guitars; Wykes supplied bass, numerous keyboards, and every lead and harmony vocal. The finished Some Dusty appeared on it in the U.K., Elefant in Spain, Minty Fresh in Japan, and Kindercore in North America. While continuing their roles with Saint Etienne, the duo began work on a follow-up. Again teaming with O'Shaughnessy, they enlisted drummer Jon Chandler of Absentee, bassist Will Pepper of Thee Hypnotics and Epic Soundtracks, and keyboardist Sean Read, whose résumé includes Denim, Rockingbirds, Beth Orton, and numerous other projects. The resulting sound was slightly more refined and musically intricate than their debut yet retained the same reassuring warmth. Triple Echo came out on it and Germany's Apricot label in 2001.

Birdie soon wound down operations as Saint Etienne obligations and family life took precedence. A compilation of singles and unreleased material titled Reverb Deluxe surfaced in 2002. The next release arrived only in 2018, when the Where It's at Is Where You Are label put out the single “Tomorrow”/“Bowling Green Saturday,” after which the duo returned to semi-retirement. In 2024 Slumberland became the fifth imprint to release Some Dusty, issuing a vinyl edition in the middle of the year. The reissue featured a green cover and a revised track sequence closer to the duo's original vision.