Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird is obsessed with the game Operation. “I’m not lying,” He says so himself on “Darkmatter” from his latest album, Armchair Apocrypha. It’s oddly comforting to know this, or to at least have some grasp on just why he always feels the need to sing of Bunsen burners, formaldehyde, and girls who want to tie you up and drill tiny holes in your head. Bird’s latest carries remnants of his prior masterpiece, The Mysterious Production of Eggs, echoing throughout, but to his credit. With his oft-plucked violin strings, masterful whistling (yes, I said whistling), and soft but steady croon, his sound is more than working for him.

What is different this time around is a newfound confidence in melody and hooks. Armchair’s 12 songs all yield a directness and playfulness that only showed up in bursts on previous work. And if you’re up for the challenge to memorize his cryptic stream-of consciousness wordplay, these songs are also a lot of fun to sing along to. Take these lyrics from the catchy-as-hell chorus of mitosis: “What was mistaken for closeness was just a case for mitosis/She fatal doses, malcontent to osmosis/Why do some show no mercy/While others are painfully shy?” Not exactly sing-along-worthy on page (though engrossing in their cleverness), but sung by Bird, the chorus of the year.

Bruce Scott

andrewbird.net
myspace.com/andrewbird

First published in movmnt magazine “Got Fame?” Issue - Fall 2007