Conscious Artist Spotlight: Birch

Birch, our Conscious Artist of the month, shares thoughts on her ever-evolving sound, female empowerment and its inspiring emergence from the shadows. 

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Editor’s note

Since the interview, Birch had this to say on the Covid-19 crisis:

Michelle Birsky aka Birch exudes artistry, intelligence and a depth of thought in her art. Originally from a small town in Connecticut, the synth-pop artist now calls NYC home. According to Birch, being inspired by world events and “raising the female voice in society” has sharpened the focus in her work. Alongside her own songwriting and production quest, Birch derives great satisfaction from her other work as a film composer, having scored several projects to date. She talks about that and her latest single, “Your Gold” which she released late 2019.

Your relationship with music began as a very personal experience for you: Playing guitar alone, singing alone, writing for yourself. What initially inspired you to share your music with others?

I think a big reason why I didn’t share my music early on was an inferiority complex where I thought I wasn’t good enough. I finally started to share and perform my music in college when I was able to shed my fears a bit and get out of my little echo chamber brain. 

You produce, write and sing: a triple threat. Do you have a favorite part of the music creation process?

Writing is probably my favorite part of creation, which then bleeds into production as I usually write on Ableton. I love finding interesting, new ways to share an emotion or idea through lyrics and sound.

When did you feel you established your sound? Or do you feel it’s more of an ongoing work-in-progress? 

I finally figured out my sound through my debut LP, ‘femme.one’, which came out in 2019. During my first two EPs, I was sort of experimenting with styles, but as I learned more about production, songwriting, and the message I want to share, I grew into what I do today. That said, I think my “sound” is ever-evolving and I’m elaborating on what I did on femme.one and diving more into production with the next album I’m writing.

You’ve expressed that your single “femme.two” was inspired by the Women’s March. What was it about that time that inspired the creation of this song for you?

Like many artists, I was inspired by the potency of that time. It felt like, for the first time in my lifetime, women were talking about issues that have been in the back of my mind since my teens. For me, I was really struck by the dichotomy many of us seemed to be feeling between helplessness and strength. It’s something I still feel, this pull between feeling empowered that women are rising and also helpless that we aren’t “there” yet. 

How do you feel about female empowerment as it stands now? Do you feel any progress has been made since 2017’s first march?

I think progress has been made in that we’re all talking about it now. The Me Too and Times Up movement has brought so much to light. That said, we’ve got a long way to go, especially in regards to racial inequality in the women’s movement and world. 

You’ve described your debut record femme.one as a “feminist concept album.” Is it a continuation of your single “femme.two” in some way? Is there a reason the order of both goes from “two” to “one”? 

femme.one is both the title of the album and the first song on the album. In many ways, the 2016 election created within me (and many people) a forced reckoning about being a woman in society and our lack of true equality. femme.one is about that initial reckoning and the rest of the album is a chronological look back at my history and family history through the female lens. 

From ‘Spelling Lessons’ where I look back at subversive sexism in grade school to ‘Labor Fruit’ where I look at the overt sexism my great grandmother faced, up until ‘femme.two’ where I look at how the culture is today. I released femme.two as a single but it’s actually the last song of the album and the place I wanted to jump off from in my next album. 

You composed the music for the upcoming feature film, Asking for It. Could you walk us through what it was like to work on a major project like this?

It was the best time and the biggest challenge of my career yet. I absolutely loved scoring this film. I was lucky because the director/writer Becky Scott is one of my best friends so it was easy to go back and forth with her about music. I also got to work with my partner Kevin, of Cape Francis, to create a lot of the soundscape and original ideas. 

The score is kind of a female rock/punk score with horror elements, so Kevin added a ton to it with his electric guitar and I created the synths, vocals, and production. It was very collaborative. The whole thing took about ten months, which is way more than average but I was grateful to have the time as it was my first feature film. For the first six months, it was really about gathering ideas and blocking out the film, the last three was much more intense as we had to lock everything to picture and make decisions. 

Asking for It is about a journalist who takes justice into her own hands when her internet stalker walks free. What initially drew you to working on it? 

Becky (the writer/director) had shown me the script early on and the second I read it I knew I wanted to be part of it. It’s a hilarious comedy with an underlying message of female empowerment and sisterhood. The two main characters are women and there’s really no love interest, it’s just about two women being badass and trying to take down a creepy dude. I loved that it took a comedic stance on today’s deeper issues.

Along with Asking for It, you’ve scored other projects including short film Girl Talk and a web series called Babysitter’s Pub. How do you decide what film projects to work on?

I really like to work with women and help tell stories that historically have not been told in mainstream cinema — though I hope that is changing. 

What can fans look forward to from you in the coming weeks and months? 

I’m currently working on a new album and will be sharing some of my new work on my Instagram. I’ll be playing live in New York in the spring so look out for show dates and a big announcement coming in June! 

What’s your social media of choice? A.k.a. What’s the best way to stay up-to-date on your music? 

Instagram at @michellebirsky!

You can check out Birch’s new single, “Your Gold” on all major platforms. Keep a lookout for her work on feature film, Asking For It, which premieres in March at the Cinequest Film Festival.

Check out Birch on Songtradr