BirdBelly - The Wind the Wood, Vol. 1 (2025) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Out My Backdoor
02. Shirt Pocket
03. Desert Khaki
04. Where the Two Rivers Meet
05. Black Horses
06. Fortify (The Wind the Wood Version)
07. 25 Years
08. Hummingbird
09. Taste the Morning Light (Full Version)

BirdBelly is the new moniker of Métis singer-songwriter Cynthia Hamar—a cinematic, poetic Americana project that blends deep roots with spiritual insight.

BirdBelly also marks the latest stage in the Alberta-born Hamar’s artistic evolution that began in her teens with homemade cassettes and later, two albums comprised of raw, personal folk-pop. By 2019, Hamar was feeling a growing desire to get closer to the core of her music making process, prompting her to enrol in the Recording and Production program at MacEwan University in Edmonton, through which she earned a Bachelor of Music degree with distinction in 2023. In the midst of her studies, she recorded Joint & Marrow, an album that received international praise, and earned Hamar a Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination for Indigenous Songwriter of the Year.

All of that has laid the foundation for BirdBelly, created with a trusted group of collaborators that includes producer Paul Johnston, bassist MJ Dandeneau (whom Hamar also credits with mentoring her throughout the project), keyboardist Chris Andrew and drummer Richard Irwin. The end result,The Wind The Wood, is a dynamic, adventurous collection led by first single “Black Horses,” mixed by Marcus Paquin and featuring Joey Landreth on guitar.

For Hamar, transitioning to BirdBelly just seemed to make sense, given all the other changes she has made to her musical approach. “My sound has progressively incorporated elements of jazz, country and gospel, strengthening the blues and contemporary sounds I have always mashed together,” she explains. “I feel my new music showcases a more mature lyrical depth and vocal expression, and I also have been very intentional about writing material to improve my live show, creating more interesting moments and stories for people to connect to and be immersed in.”

Among those stories are the standout album tracks “Where The Two Rivers Meet,” a reminiscence of Hamar’s father who passed away when she was nine, “Fortify,” another song about the importance of family, and “Shirt Pocket,” one of Hamar’s personal favourites, in which she envisions herself climbing into God’s shirt pocket whenever life becomes overwhelming.

The combined themes of faith and resilience are indeed prominent throughout the record and are tied together in “Taste the Morning Light,” which also helps explain the album title The Wind The Wood. Hamar says, “I think there’s definitely a correlation between community and trees—deep roots provide strength. The truth is that adversity can destroy us or strengthen us and that is very dependent on what kind of ‘roots’ we have, or if we have any at all.”

That sentiment leads back to “Black Horses” and its musical echoes of Tom Waits’s raw blues. It’s the story of Hamar’s daughter praying for a black horse after she fell in love with the book Black Beauty, and their family eventually ending up with four black horses on their farm years later.

Such personal touches are all a part of Hamar’s artistic evolution that has now in many ways kicked into overdrive with BirdBelly as she understands more about her Métis heritage and becomes more connected to the land. Hamar says bluntly, “I want to create music that matters—songs with words that inspire, melodies that soften hearts, and chord progressions that open minds and spirits. I can’t be afraid to try, and to not rise to the occasion.”

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