In today’s age, technology has flooded our lives with content. Caught in the mire are modern musicians who champion an art form more widely distributed than any other throughout human history. And we, more often than not, overlook the music created by unfamiliar faces because it’s challenging. We’d rather have an easy listen, a known quantity to skim through while we think about something else.
Hearing is easy, but listening is difficult. Welcome to “Why We Like It,” where we rebuke the trends in favor of thoughtful analysis and underknown sounds.
“Little Birdie” — Izo FitzRoy
Izo FitzRoy - Little Birdie (Official Music Video)
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How We Found It
All manner of songs and styles saunter through our SubmitHub inbox on any given week, but when I’m on discovery duty, something strange happens — tasteful retro-soul tracks roll on in, as if the universe knows where I’m at. This week, the old-school soul stylings of Izo FitzRoy arrived in “Little Birdie,” a tender post-COVID track about stirring birdsong and the want to take flight once more.
Why We Like It
“Nature is finally healing.”
Odds are you’ve heard that phrase over this past year, and I’m willing to wager it’s been through some cynical invocation or Instagram meme. I get it — there’s something about those shallow platitudes that trade style for substance — but the restorative image of “Little Birdie,” the new single from Izo FitzRoy, is anything but unconsidered.
“Some people say, that there’ll be good times comin’ / And I heard it through the waves, that the sun soon come shining through,” sings the London songstress, murmurs of a much-missed life the sort of rumour you choose to believe in. It hasn’t been the easiest of times, as Izo can attest — “I can’t tell the woods from the trees,” she sings on the chorus — but her hope takes on a new life when it’s stoked by the sounds and sights of Spring.
“Little Birdie” is part-confession, part-Spring cleaning, sweeping the halls and wiping the dust boards of a house unused. On the one hand, it’s a powerful metaphor, and on the other, a striking image of pandemic living — the house as a conduit of company as opposed to a home, an office, a gym and a home cinema all in one. “How we’ve been living it’s been hard to find / A little peace, a little quiet for my mind,” sings Izo on the second verse, her outlook unsullied as the birdsong breaks through: “Summer’s coming at straight me / Oh and I’m ready, oh I’m ready.”
Izo shines on a bridge that literally soars, taking flight “on a wing” and leaping back into the beautiful uncertainty of a life well lived — with all the worry, concern and fear that entails. Izo’s leap of faith is one she’s been dying to make, and as the seasons change with the blossoming trees, it seems as though life itself is beckoning her forth. “Little Birdie” is a glowing vision of a future that might just be, and Izo knows it’s ours to claim… so what are you waiting for?
From Izo
We lived for a while in a world where wildlife seemed to blossom when we were all stuck at home and you could hear the birdsong so loudly without any traffic or aeroplanes overhead and that was really inspiring for this song” – Izo FitzRoy for CentralSauce
More From Izo
“Little Birdie” feels like a revival in and of itself, but it’s really the latest in Izo’s long and prosperous career.
She dropped “Everybody Knows This Ain’t Right” earlier this year, her first single since “Red Line,” taken from her 2020 sophomore record How The Mighty Fall. That 11-track album features singles “When The Wires Are Down” and “Blind Faith,” and followed loose singles “I Want Magic” and “Slim Pickings.”
Her debut record, 2017’s Skyline, included singles in the popular title track, “Hope You Can Wait,” and “Say Something.” If you’re after more Izo FitzRoy, you’re in luck – there’s certainly more to come. You can tap in on Facebook and Instagram to keep wise to her next moves!
More to Discover
Subscribe to the CentralSauce mailing list so you never miss out on the freshest sauce. Check out this continuously updated playlist of songs Conor has added to our Discovery section! Each track or artist has been featured in our “Why We Like It” section, so be sure to check out the page here on the site.
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