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Written by Jeff Dubbin
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Saturday, 09 May 2009 |
 The talented Andrew Bird. Courtesy of Andrew Bird's official Web site.
While many contemporary musicians display instrumental virtuosity and versatility, Chicago-based artist Andrew Bird is one of the few who demonstrates these skills simultaneously. This one-man maestro holds a degree in violin performance from Northwestern University, but he also sings, self-harmonizes, plucks guitar, rings glockenspiel and fills the room with a tremulous whistle. Throw in a pedal-operated looping machine and you have Bird in concert: a web of riffs and a musical whole that surprises, as much as it delights, the audience and performer alike.
When asked why he simply does not get more members in his band to play additional instruments, Bird told Pitchfork, “That is part of the fun of it.” Therein lies the beauty of seeing the multi-instrumental multitasker live: no song is ever played the same way twice. He continued, “I may be supposed to whistle the next line but I actually sing it, or I'm supposed to sing the next line and actually whistle. Or I'm supposed to whistle and I play it on the violin. They're all very direct mediums of connection. It's all coming from the same place.”
Wordplay and nonsense layer his lyrics, but each line emotes. He is equal parts fervent musician and careful songwriter, and his music is born from that creative tension. Andrew Bird is, after all, an independent rocker who notes such influences as turn-of-the-century French composers Ravel and Debussy. How could such cacophony coalesce into something not just whole, but wholly captivating? For the answer, listen to the opening of his hit “Plasticities” while trying to imagine the same person joining all those sounds at once.
Alternatively, you might listen to “The Mysterious Production of Eggs,” his second studio album, and keep in mind it is by an artist called Bird if you are inclined to ask, “Where do these babies come from?”
His latest album, “Noble Beast” (released January 20, 2009) rocked Billboard’s top 200 as high as #12. On its merits, this fifth solo album reflects the most refined Bird compositions yet. Characteristic pizzicatos and clarion whistling add to leaping arpeggios for a wholly bucolic feel.
For a songwriter who spends much of his time on an Illinois farm, Bonnaroo may be just the fertile environment for this edgy classicist to take root.
[Andrew Bird Official Site, Pitchfork, Pitchfork2, Front Page Image Courtesy of Andrew Bird Official Site]
Jeff Dubbin is a TheSequitur.com senior editor.
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