Sean Davis Newton on his upcoming record ‘Bird Brain’

Sean Davis Newton is an Edmonton artist, producer, and journalist. He is preparing for his upcoming album, Bird Brain, set for release on October 18.

With two singles already out, the promise of a bonus track, and an upcoming performance, Newton  discussed the concepts, inspiration, and writing process of the album. According to Newton, Bird Brain has a running theme of climate, birds, and romance. 

“Cigarette” was the first single released off the upcoming record. The song, instead of thematically relating to birds, uses the personification of cigarettes to speak on climate issues from a unique angle.

“[The song] kind of directly [is] personifying the cigarette in that instance. It’s a song about climate [at] the core of it. It got written after one of the climate marches in 2019 in the fall. And so, you know, it fits in that way,” Newton said.

Bird Brain is an homage to Edmonton and Alberta, Newton explained

In terms of inspiration, Newton explained that the album is, if anything, his Edmonton record.

“A lot of the writing about birds started because I was living down in Ross Flats for the summer in 2019, and there’s a ridiculous number of magpies in Edmonton. It’s something that I really started associating with Edmonton really heavily,” Newton explained.  

Along with the theme of birds, the album also explores living in Alberta, which is home to a large oil and gas industry. 

“Half the songs are about birds, and half the songs are about dirty, gross oil and smoking and … industrial ideas, like cigarettes and gasses. There’s a lot of that language kind of throughout the record … that’s Alberta.”

The LP will have a bonus track on it, and Newton’s decided to include it despite the fact that it strays from the main feeling of the overall record.

“I realized that I had written kind of like an arty record that I thought, you know, it’s, goofy and fun, but it’s a serious thing. I shouldn’t start it with the most goofy ass, honky-tonk thing. Generally, we’ll open the show with it, and have that [include] a bunch of bird whistles and shit that are really, really fun.”

Newton will be performing at The Aviary on October 19 for Bird Brain’s release party. Speaking on the The Aviary, Newton described it as “the only room that is gonna do all kinds of music and be equally successful with all of them.”

“It’s a really, really, really fun place to play with a really, really, really great community around it,” he explained.

Overall, Newton’s upcoming release is “about how we relate to each other and how we relate to the world around us.”