True Names

This is our third album as Project Blackbird. It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here.

Some of you might be wondering about the title, so before you put on your headphones or open up the lyrics, here's a quick note about the concept of "true names” - a theme that comes courtesy of the writer Ursula K Le Guin.

In Le Guin's fictional realm of Earthsea, identity is multi-faceted and mysterious; there are selves and shadow selves; and a living thing's true name, its essence, is a source of profound power, vulnerability, and consequence. To be given another's true name is to exchange "that gift that only a friend can give, proof of unshaken, unshakeable trust". To give one's own is to allow oneself to be seen, to be heard, to be truly known.

Though only the lyrics of the title track are directly inspired by Le Guin's writing, each of these 12 songs has its own identity and its own set of truths to share.

We hope you find something of yourself in there, too.