Offering an off-kilter, theatrical, often danceable fusion of indie electronic soul, Becky and the Birds is the project of Swedish singer/producer Thea Gustafsson. Her first album, Becky and the Birds, appeared in 2018. A native of Örebro, Gustafsson grew up in a family of music lovers whose tastes ranged from jazz and classical to Swedish folk and '90s R&B. Her father was an accordionist, and she played multiple instruments from a young age, taking up the violin formally from the age of seven, and eventually composing and arranging orchestra music. Gustafsson moved to Stockholm in 2014 to study at Musikmakarna, where she was exposed to the pop and dance music of artists like Max Martin and Avicii for the first time. After some frustrating encounters with male producers and songwriters, she established the solo project Becky and the Birds in 2016. Writing, performing, arranging, and producing the album herself, Gustafsson released her project's debut long-player, Becky and the Birds, in 2018. She then signed with 4AD, which issued the feminism-themed EP Trasslig (Swedish for "tangled"), in 2020. ~ Marcy Donelson