Birthday Problem , the collaborative duo of prolific producer / musicians Matt Harris (HAVVK, Maria Kelly, DYVR) and Rocky O’Reilly (ASIWYFA, Oppenheimer, Malibu Shark Attack), will release powerful electronic-soul single ‘Venus Calls’ featuring alternative multidisciplinary artist Jess Kav (BARQ, The Waterboys) on May 29th.
The single marks the completion of Risk, which is Volume One of the duo’s impending double album release, which will also comprise Volume Two, Reward.
What makes the Birthday Problem project particularly interesting is the thematic and collaborative approach that Harris and O’Reilly have taken to navigate these two contrasting volumes. First, in a ‘call-and-response’ style, Birthday Problem asked a diverse range of artists one question for Volume One: “If we continue to indulge the worst parts of our humanity, what will the world start to look like in the future?”
The question has elicited an incredible range of responses from artists like Party Fears, Stephen McCauley, Ailbhe Reddy, Runah, HAVVK, Nerves, Róisín Nic and The Wood Burning Savages, all of whom have collaborated on the project so far, with Jess Kav on ‘Venus Calls’ narrating the final answer in Risk (Volume One).
Jess Kav, whose work explores the intersections of music, social activism, and personal transformation, grants Risk (Volume One) a conclusion as compelling as its inception. The alternative singer, who has collaborated with Hozier, The Waterboys, and Villagers, and who is a former contributor to The Irish Times and RTÉ Arena, sings of vulnerability, injustice and defiance, amplifying the volume’s ethos.
Harris explains, “From a creative perspective, it has been great, and from a conceptual perspective it has been pretty emotional. It is always surprising to see how people have interpreted the brief and while each collaboration has been a bit different in terms of level of involvement and where specifically the artist makes their stamp, there have been plenty of examples when we are tracking vocals and it feels like we’ve landed on something special and different. This was a chance for us to continue to spread the net and work with artists that we like but also to have a bigger say in shaping the output.”
Volume Two, Reward, will see the project transition from dark to light, mapping the duo’s collaboration with new voices and exploring more positive perspectives, drifting away from themes of ignorance, conformity, disconnection and fragmented creativity.
“Working with certain artists who have an inherent positivity and hopeful nature, we just ended up with songs that did represent a more hopeful version of the future. It felt like a natural and organic way to continue the project but also continue to deliver the message that we cared about from the outset,” say Harris and O’Reilly of the direction Volume Two will take.
Probing the question, “How can finding the common ground between one another nurture progress and possibility?”, the duo and their collaborators strive to escape the spiral of societal despair that catalysed the very start of the project.
Individually renowned for their fearless, boundary-pushing approaches to making music, Birthday Problem team up to thematically and sonically dive into a profound sci-fi electronica realm. Volume One has seen Harris, O’Reilly and collaborators take a look at our future through a dark lens, and Volume Two stands as the fierce, persevering voice who tackles the conversation.
Rocky O’Reilly says: “Matt and I definitely had an idea of the artists we wanted to be involved in the Birthday Problem project, many of whom we’ve worked with over the years. We were, and still are, acutely aware that there are a lot of upsetting and disturbing things happening in the world at the moment, and that’s literally what we approached vocalists with. With this project, we want to find out what issues are worrying people most, and even in a small way help to draw attention to them.”