Give Water to Birds

ZÖJ is not just a duo but a conversation—between worlds, between past and present, between the known and the unnameable. Since 2016, Gelareh Pour and Brian O’Dwyer have been making music under this name, though their collaboration stretches back further, to when they first began tracing the edges of each other’s sound in 2012. 

Their debut album, Fil O Fenjoon (2023), was unrushed, inevitable. It resonated, not just in accolades (the Australian Wettest 100’s number one album, the Excellence in Experimental Practice award at the 2024 APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards) but in the way it settled into listeners like something remembered rather than discovered.

ZÖJ’s second album, Give Water to Birds (June 2025 via Bleeemo Music Australia and Parenthesis Records Europe), marks a compelling new chapter in the duo’s evolving musical journey. Building on the foundations of their critically acclaimed debut, this release sees ZÖJ, Gelareh Pour and Brian O’Dwyer, pushing their sound into new and unexpected territories.

Featuring Brett Langsford on guitar, Give Water to Birds expands ZÖJ’s sonic landscape, blending intricate melodies, atmospheric textures and rhythmic explorations that defy categorisation. The album captures the duo’s deepening commitment to experimentation and storytelling. While their debut explored the intersection of tradition and innovation, Give Water to Birds delves further into themes of transformation, resilience and the human connection to nature.