Having recorded her debut at Steve Albini’s (Pixies, Nirvana, PJ Harvey) Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, Illinois, “I Will Raise A Bird Army” instead found Carafice hiding out in the deep recesses of Onehunga at Hill Street Studios, before returning to her newfound nest in Chicago to add some f**ked up magic and production with Xiu Xiu mastermind and mad sound-genius Jamie Stewart.
Delving into the darker regions of the soul for this record, Renee-Louise opted to put down her steel guitar (in fact it had long since been pawned to pay for Chicago survival) in favour of broken-down casiotone keyboards, bent and dented drum cymbals, and chirping wind-up birds - the perfect derelict landscapes to back her world-weary but newly empowered voice. Tales of courage, dumpster diving, and defending oneself against snow and shitheads - the ten new songs contained within are at once forlorn, fragile, and fantastical - with offerings of hope and triumphant battles among the scattershot nightmares and mean streets.