8:56am by Birdboy

A Listener’s Guide to 8:56am by Birdboy

March 21st, 2025 marked the release of 8:56am — my first solo album as Birdboy, and a very personal project. It was created as a gift for my son on his first birthday. Each track is a musical attempt to capture the wonder and magic of a newborn’s first year. It’s about discovering life, feeling things for the first time, and remembering what it’s like to look at the world with open eyes.

This album is best experienced with intention. Give yourself a moment — maybe during a quiet train ride, a walk through nature, or a rainy afternoon at home. Use good headphones or speakers. Let the sounds paint pictures in your mind. Here’s a short guide to help you connect with each piece.

Floating

A song about lightness, love, and awe. Its mood reminds me of vintage French cinema. Listen to how the melodies interact and build, until an echoing arpeggio emerges, dissolving the original theme into space.

JR’s Lullaby

Built around a phone recording of an improvised lullaby sung by his mother while on vacation. You’ll hear the original melody at the end. The track blends toy-like sounds with a field recording from a Parisian restaurant — capturing that safe, cozy feeling of falling asleep while the world hums in the background.

Ocean Blue

To me, this song is deep blue. It’s the ocean — its vastness, its salt-scented air, the sparkle of sunlight on water. With headphones, you’ll hear the waves wander from left to right, growing bigger towards the end of the song, until they swell into something wild and free.

Sakura 24

Some Zen inspiration. Sounds that create echoes: imagine a stone dropped into water — the ripples that keep getting wider and wider. Then pay attention to the the waves that get faster until they become a humming bass sound. The song finishes with a calm motif — a sonic cherry blossom moment.

Light Between the Leaves

Let yourself drift in the shifting patterns of echo and rhythm. The shapes are always changing, never quite the same. This one is for JR’s love of leaves — how they move, how they catch the light, how endlessly fascinating they are.

Un Jour Parfait

This one is a very personal track. It’s based on words I wrote down and adressed to JR before and after he was born. The inspiration came from a letter my grandfather wrote when I was born. The tradition goes on.

Stardust

It begins in space — stars flickering into life. Slowly, things start to move. To me, this track reflects the journey from the cosmos down to our small, beautiful planet. From stardust to soil.

Sweet Dreams, Birdboy

This one is built on the rhythm of JR’s breath as he sleeps. The melody circles and repeats, pulling you into a dreamlike trance. A lullaby of layers, gradually deepening as the song moves through the landscape of sleep.

Welcome

The first song I wrote for this project — and the last on the album. A simple pulse carries you through it. I left it intentionally sparse, unfinished, so there’s space for your own thoughts, maybe even your own melody. It ends with JR’s laughter — a reminder that life, after all, doesn’t always have to be so serious.

Birdboy is the ambient project of Swiss/French musician and producer Jean-Philippe Ruegg. Blending field recordings, repetitive melodies, and cinematic textures, Birdboy creates soundscapes that evoke nostalgia and light-heartedness.