andrew bird
Chicagoan Andrew Bird (and his adroit fiddle play) has a way of delivering a song that makes it both familiar and endearing. How he pulls off such feats is beyond my reckoning. But that’s okay, my ears and I are alright with a few unsolved mysteries in the universe. As of late though I have been wanting to hear Andrew Bird’s music more often than not. Pulaski At Night is the perfect example and it is easy to understand why this song remains a bright and melancholy ray of light in Andrew Bird’s ever substantial musical oeuvre. I have even been known to call up the local college radio station to request his songs. Something about listening to your favorite odes in-between point A and point B, the music you enjoy listening to somehow suspends the distance between going to and arriving there. Droll I know, but if you’re amused by my nerdy music antics don’t be. Spend some quality time entertained by Mr. Bird’s music. That’ll set your right.
Regarding his latest album Echolocation: Canyon there is plenty to enjoy. The music, like so much of his work, is meditative and serene. But if you’re not privy to his previous works I beg you to go back and check out a couple of my favorite Andrew Bird albums: 2007’s Armchair Apocrypha and 2009’s Noble Beast (Fat Possum Records), these albums are the pillar and stone of what his music is built upon. Of the two Noble Beast is an album I return to a lot and I hear things which remind me of William Fitzsimmons but also stripped down tones of Thom Yorke, James Mercer and Ben Gibbard. And then there is also 2012’s Break It Yourself (Mom + Pop).
Perhaps one of his most under celebrated albums to date. Here there are songs so magical they make could make a stone weep. There is also the handily adept 7-song EP collection I Want to See Pulaski at Night of which Pulaski At Night appears. Okay. I am all talked out for now. After the jump take a listen to a few songs and don’t misplace your thank yous on me. No, those belong to Andrew Bird and all of his musical and magical wonder. Andrew Bird isn’t just a musician. His compositions are soulful in a way that circumvents mere feeling: these songs are lived, learned and then loved. Peace.
Artist: Andrew Bird
Albums: Armchair Apocrypha (2007), Noble Beast (2009) and Break It Yourself (2012)
EP: I Want To See Pulanski At Night (2013)
www.andrewbird.net
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