Andrew Bird

Inhabiting a unique stylistic hinterland

Andrew Bird has taken a curious, zig-zag route to his current singer-songwriting semi-success, like a bow across the strings of his favourite violin. From string prodigy to swing-band affiliate, eccentric groupleader to eclectic one-man-band, he’s finally found a place to call home in a unique stylistic hinterland taking in folk, classical bits, electronic beats and a seemingly magpie-like appreciation of the finest male frontmen of modern times.

On his latest album, ‘Armchair Apocrypha’, Bird meanders fascinatingly between the vocal stylings of, for instance, Stephen Malkmus, Jeff Buckley and David Byrne, but it’s musically that the Illinois native attracts most attention. Live, his method of sampling and looping his own playing can be mesmerising, but it’s all part of a surprisingly simple plan.

“I really want to write a catchy three-minute song”

“I really want to write a catchy three-minute song,” says Bird, over in London on a whistle-stop one-date tour. “I find that infinitely challenging, but I’m also a jazz soul, I want to be surprised every night. So there’s a healthy tension between those two things. I’ve always approached it from the Louis Armstrong style, rather than the John Coltrane. Armstrong was improvising to find a melody, not so much taking you on a journey out into deep water.”

Listening to ‘Armchair Apocrypha’ – actually his seventh album, but the first to really receive a major release in the UK – the first thing that strikes you is the quality and immediacy of the songs. The chap can write a tune, no question about that, but it’s only when you’ve begun to whistle these around the house do the more unusual musical attributes become properly apparent. Gorgeous string snatches are a given – he has a degree in violin performance – but over the last few albums whistling itself has also become a Bird trademark.

“If you hung out with me for a day it’d drive you nuts because I do it all the time – if I’m not eating or sleeping, I’m whistling. I started using it about four years ago, I heard something in my head that was a real tearglass kind of sound, and then I just tried whistling it, and that was it. I have been contacted by the whistling community actually. There are professional whistlers out there who want to come and jam. I haven’t really responded.”

Bird is clearly in demand, even from non-whistlers. Back in the US his audience has grown significantly over the last few years, from a small band of die-hard devotees to decent-sized arena crowds, “playing Cleveland 12 times and the 13th time it goes from a hundred people to a thousand people.” His lyrics are now the subject of hot chatroom debate, which he admits can be a little unnerving, “when what they’re gleaning from it is a lot more simplistic than intended.” But in general it seems the Bird crowd are down with his ever-changing sounds.

“When I first started out I was like, ‘how can anyone latch onto me if I don’t stick to my guns?’ but now sticking to my guns seems like not sticking to my guns. People expect change from me, which is a nice thing.”

Indeed. You can’t beat an interesting Bird.

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