New York City based synth pop dup Birch do that most difficult of things. They combine the synthetic and the organic seamlessly, without losing any humanity in the process. On latest track ‘Nobody Lives Forever’ they take what is a tried and tested synth pop template and imbue it with earnestness and heart so that it feels fresh.
We spoke to the duo about what the track is all about. Expect fear, bigotry, death, and vocoders to make an appearance.
Each song on this EP “Not Human” investigates a specific reason why we forget that we are all one, or Human. Nobody Lives Forever is a song about fear and the ways that it can divide us. The presence of fear keeps us from remembering that we are all one. If you’re looking at the human experience through the lens of fear, you’re going to see yourself as separate from everyone else.
2. Bigotry
One specific fear that I investigate in the lyrics is the fear of “the other”. I truly believe that every act of bigotry (racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc) is rooted in fear – fear of change, of losing power. This particular ramification of fear is the most dangerous to the human race. It causes us to destroy each other.
3. Death
The title of the song “Nobody Live Forever” is about the ultimate fear, fear of dying. It’s only one line in the song, and I move over it rather quickly in the first verse in a sort of laundry list of fears. The reason behind this is that I feel like the ultimate fear of dying is behind our other fears. Fear of death creeps in the back of our minds, it’s quiet and we push it away, but it’s there. If we were to rid ourselves of this fear of dying, how might that open us up to seeing each other as one?
4. The political landscape in the US
The whole EP is my abstract reaction to the US election. I wrote it all while observing the election and the ugliness it brought out in the American people. I believe that fear was a huge reason why Trump was elected and why sexism and other forms of bigotry continue to be a major problem in our government {see #2: Bigotry}.
5. One Random YouTube Vocoder Tutorial
In terms of production on this track, the whole thing began when I stumbled across a YouTube tutorial about Ableton vocoder techniques. I watched the tutorial and started messing around with the vocoder on Ableton and the song poured out of me. Thanks internet!
