Andrew Bird is back, with a new album — Armchair Apocrypha — to be released in a month or so, a prominent SXSW appearance, late-night TV gigs and a big tour (dates & locales here). Also back: musically complex, gently orchestrated and textured pop songs with obscure or unexpected lyric paths, and more whistling than a Roger Whittaker album. Some of the off-beat syncopation and general quirkiness aren’t here; in general Armchair Apocrypha sounds developed and mature. That said, Bird’s sound is still fresh and inviting, clever and complex.
Heretics [MP3, 3.2MB, 128kbps]
Original post: 05/05/05
A message from Sean to me, regarding Andrew Bird:
“Damn, you beat me to this! AB’s one of those artists that I just never took the time to listen to, even though I had access to his records….then when I do finally listen, I’m kicking myself for waiting so long…”
Incredibly fresh songwriting, with an abundance of clever lines and complex instrumentation that fits somewhere between Nick Drake and Arcade Fire. Thanks to Gordon for this suggestion.
Nice picks! I'm only getting 1MB of "Lull," though…?
Yeah, me too. Thanks, Nichole. I just pulled "Lull" off the list because of this. At one time — in February, to be precise — that link worked, because I have a download of the full song. Now, when you try to save "Lull" off of andrewbird.net, you get "Sovay" instead. Perhaps the link was crossed when his website changed from bowloffire.com to the current one… Anyway, sorry for the bad link.
after hearing "sovay" i immediately bought 'the mysterious production of eggs'… its awesome
Excellent choice! Since listening to your audio, I hemmed and hawed about getting Andrew Bird's latest, and then finally bought the album. I'm not sorry! Thanks, guys!
There's a free streaming concert on the web. It's fantastic.
You must see Andrew Bird live. He's on tour now with Dosh and damn if that isn't some tasty duet action.
Just go.
I'm going to repeat my last comment: See Andrew Bird live. You won't regret it.
Back when I lived in Minneapolis I saw Dosh so many times, playing with such a wide variety of musicians (friends). I have to imagine that if Andrew Bird has been hanging out with Dosh, musically, it truly would be an experience to see them both at one show.
Dosh plays a major role on the new album, co-writing one song and appearing as a studio musician on most if not all of the rest.
I should check that out. Thanks for the tip.
So, talking about Dosh made me start thinking about lateduster (formerly cropduster). I was happy to see that you had featured something from them back in 2004 (3hive is a new discovery for me) but that there was nothing from JG Everest. I'm biased because he's a dear friend but I enjoy his stuff, immensely. I recommend "oh, to be" and "the terms" off of Hush Money.
But I'm rambling a bit.
He went to the same high school as me!