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Andrew Bird Spreads His Wings
The master of spontaneity is expanding the appeal of his sound and filling more seats
Andrew Bird
When planning his last tour, Andrew Bird had said he would not play in a venue the size of Radio City Music Hall for fear that he would have trouble connecting with the audience. His shows are uniquely spontaneous and improvised. Six short months after his last visit to New York, Bird is set to play Radio City on June 18th. The growing size of Bird’s concert venues seems to echo the scope of his music’s appeal. With his early sound that includes long whistling interludes, Radio City would have swallowed him up. Considering the intensity of Bird’s latest album, Noble Beast, Radio City will fit just about right.
The sound of Bird’s early music directly descends from Stephen Malkmus and Pavement, with added classical music training. The music refuses to set forth a worldview that is completely dismal. The sound always carries a twitter of hope, a light touch of worry with a reassurance that things never get too bad. Bird, along with bands like Iron and Wine, Arcade Fire, Animal Collective and Calexico, have been labeled as a new generation of folk. But they are not folk artists. Folk music was overtly political. These new artists echo their time, concerning themselves with problems of Individual more than the problems of society.
Much like classical music, Bird emotes using his instrumentation, not his lyrics. The lyric’s lack of emotional bareness can alienate pop listeners, as can the violin, glockenspiel, and copious whistling. But after going through Bird’s songbook, there is no denying his passion for expression through sound. Bird seems to find joy creating music in a way no one else has, cobbled together by a classically trained musician with interests in swing, calypso, and folk.
At times, it seems Bird could do with a little less smart and a little more heart. But if the listener can put aside the ways pop music traditionally makes emotional connections, one can find the expressiveness in Bird’s sound, much like classical music. His newest album lost some of his previous charming weirdness and gained in lushness and broader appeal that will endear him to fans of the more accessible Radiohead as well as lovers of the much quirkier Pavement. There is no doubt Bird’s sound is up to the size of Radio City.