BIRDMASK RELEASE THIRD SINGLE FROM TRISTAN EP – ‘DEARLY BELOVED’
London, Oct 6th 2023 – Today, Birdmask (Manuel Gagneux, also known for his work with influential metal band Zeal & Ardor), releases the song ‘Dearly Beloved’, taken from the forthcoming EP ‘Tristan’ (due November 24th).
One of the most atmospheric tracks on the EP, Manuel utilises subtle instrumentation and layered vocal harmonies to create an ebb and flow of textures throughout. Filled with melancholy and accompanied by guest vocalist I Used To Be Sam (singer Annie Goodchild), the vocal performances are almost pained, depicting a kind of sadness that Manuel says Birdmask gives him the chance to explore outside his highly charged work in heavy music; “In metal, sadness always has to be this huge thing. It’s never just a certain aspect of it – it’s the world is ending and your mom just stabbed you. It’s never heartache or ennui or anything like that. It’s misery rather than melancholy.”
Whilst next year’s EP Isolde will emphasise a happier side of Manuel, ‘Dearly Beloved’ and the four other songs of Tristan are steeped in sadness and beauty, something Manuel embraces. “It’s funny, because as soon as men feel something is too beautiful, they just call it corny or kitsch. And I’m still trying to explore where that distinction exactly lies. I think beauty is something totally voluntary – you don’t have to make anything beautiful – yet people gravitate towards it. I certainly do. I value it highly.”
Birdmask actually predates Zeal & Ardor, as Gagneux began making music under that name in 2011. He could never quite get it together with his musician friends to put a band together, “so I figured I could just learn producing on my own, and then, as a last resort, I figured I could make music on my own.” For several years he self-released on Bandcamp, labouring away in complete obscurity, releasing scores of singles and two albums, then Zeal and Ardor happened, and over a short period of time, Gagneux suddenly and unexpectedly found himself the toast of the metal world.
All throughout that time however, Manuel craved returning to the music he had been making before – “the yin to Zeal & Ardor’s yang”, as he puts it, and never ceased writing tracks with the sole intention of having them become Birdmask releases. In fact, whilst the duo of EPs were recorded over an 18 month period, the tracks were all written over an estimated 5 year span, and Manuel is at pains to stress this is not a side project; this is its own thing, his original vision. “I think I’d like to try to reach different people. And there’s a conscious effort of separating the two, just because it’s different music, at least to me. The reason I wanted to distinguish it is because it would be easy to gain an online following of people who just associate me with Zeal & Ardor and by proxy just happened to like this.”