Album Reviews

On his eight or ninth album in little more than a decade, young Chicago native Andrew Bird continues on his smart way, singing, whistling and fiddling bemusedly but sincerely about life’s conditional conditions.

He’s got a detached demeanor but he’s well beyond the post-ironic state of most indie-rock and while he could be accused of sounding smug sometimes, he’s never condescending. At his most sincere, he sort of sounds like a less flamboyant Rufus Wainright and he’s more about folk/ethnic/classical than Broadway.

Bird’s whistling does more than pass the time and fill in blanks. He’s also a trained violinist (he has a degree in it), so he’s able to have the strings follow his lips and his lips follow the strings. There’s an ease about Bird’s artistry that makes it sound as if he can do whatever he damn pleases and with ease, but making it sound that way is the hidden technique behind the art.

The overall vibe is an easy, breezy confidence that floats atop the playing and singing on this well-recorded, high production value double LP set issued at the beginning of 2009. It sounds so “analog-y” however it was produced.

Looking at the credits, it seems basic tracks were recorded in Nashville at Beech House, which is an analog studio and then in true 21st century musical vagabond style, Bird used many other studios to tack on or embellish and believe me, this record is smartly embellished above and beneath the basic tracks! No doubt the final mix was to digital from many analog parts. If not, he’s done an excellent job of mimicking analog sound. All that’s missing is the ultimate transparency and air of a full analog production, but believe me, the sound here is better than 90% of what you’re likely to turn up in the indie music world.

You might be reminded of Paul Simon’s folkier solo period, say the songs on Hearts and Bones generally and the title song in particular. Lyrically, he’s dense like Van Dyke Parks and he doesn’t give up meaning easily with references that might have you running for an online dictionary but the musical construction is never less than breezy and flowing, with strong, tactile rhythmic structures connected by stringy bridges and when needed, whistling plus a lot of loopy loops.

Try on this lyric: “The seemingly innocuous plecostomus, Though posthumous….See a sea anemone, The enemy, See a sea anemone, That’ll be the end of me…” Lyrically, Bird is heavily invested in science, wordplay and observational processes generally. If you’re looking for romance and obvious love songs you’ve come to the wrong place.

The sound is warm and full and as analog-y as you’re going to hear from a modern production. It fits Bird’s turn of the 20th century (I mean the beginning of the last century, not the end) esthetic.

Nothing is obvious here: not the lyrics, not the melodies, not the arrangements but even the first play will bring a certain warm comfort as you fall into the arms of someone smart, sincere, tuneful and interested in your musical and intellectual nourishment. Sorting it all out can come later. First just relax into the melodic atmospherics and feel the good.