Babybird started out as the solo project of Stephen Jones, who spent several years building up a catalog of over 400 self-produced songs, some of which were released in England under the name Baby Bird (two words). He acquired an ardent cult following, put together a band and re-recorded the most popular cuts from his immense repertoire. The resulting album, UGLY BEAUTIFUL, is a testament to Jones's obsessive craftsmanship, focused and singular in its vision, but varied and lush in arrangement.

Though Jones's deep, rich vocals owe much to Ian McCulloch, he clearly stakes out his own territory on cuts like "Bad Shave" with his distinctive, impressive vocal technique and contagious melodic twists and turns. Lyrically, Jones goes in for absurd mixtures of sex and religion ("Jesus Is My Girlfriend") and overturned gender roles ("Gorgeous"), tempering even the most cutting lines with clever wordplay. Instrumentation ranges from sparse acoustic settings to full orchestrations, often within the same song, giving UGLY BEAUTIFUL a shimmering, accessible pop veneer and underscoring the solid songwriting talent at work underneath.