Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird is a man of constant surprise. The instant some hapless journalist on a deadline attempts to pigeonhole him in any kind of tidy, one-dimensional category, he changes direction and creates new music that defies the description. He's been tagged at various points in his career as a neo-traditionalist, a maverick experimenter, a Beatlesque pop/psychedelic revivalist, and a creator of ambient soundscapes, among other things. But none of those catchphrases does justice to the full span of his musical vocabulary. The simple truth is this: Andrew Bird creates sounds on his own terms, and as far-ranging as his various incarnations may appear, they are remarkably consistent when it comes to clarity of purpose, craftsmanship, wit, and sheer audience appeal. Whether his subject matter is love, loneliness, or topics a little more slippery, a typical Bird song (if there is any such thing) demands your attention from the first moment you hear it, and rewards you with sheer sonic bliss. Andrew Bird was born in Chicago, a town where blues, jazz, post-rock, alt country and other genres have long rubbed shoulders. From an early age, he sensed that popular music has a history far broader and deeper than the Top 40 charts of the moment, and that some of the best of it was performed before he was born or with instruments other than the electric guitar. Speaking of instruments, Bird is a master of many (including a mean whistle), but the violin was his first love. He plucks its strings like a guitar, he samples and overdubs its output onstage, and he continues to find ways to expand the sounds this pre-digital device can produce. Exploring its limitless possibilities has led him everywhere from Ravel to the Carter Family, from Xenakis and Górecki to Joseph Spence and Charley Patton, and from Latin rhythms to Ethiopian groove in his quest to create what he calls "3 1/2-minute pop songs informed by a non-pop universe." While he first achieved widespread recognition for his work as a sideman with the Squirrel Nut Zippers in the mid-90s, his guest appearances on albums by Neko Case, Kelly Hogan, and Throwing Muses leader Kristin Hersh suggest still more dimensions of his talent. On his own releases (Music of Hair [1996], Thrills [1998], Oh! The Grandeur [1999], The Swimming Hour [2001], Fingerlings [2002], and Weather Systems [2003]), he continues to garner praise as a confident and evocative vocalist whose phrasing is a perfect fit for the lilting melodies and poetic lyrics he writes. During his years with backing band Bowl of Fire and now as a solo artist (often joined by drummer Kevin O'Donnell, founder of post-bop sextet Quality Six, and gui tarist and singer Nora O'Connor, formerly of The Aluminum Group and The Blacks), Bird has enchanted live audiences and inspired album reviewers to new heights of rapturous creativity. Take this example from Toronto's NOW Magazine: "Bird and his fiery friends have thrown out the rules and are now stroking madly with everything they've got. Irish ragas, Indian rumbas, Cuban jigs and other mind-melting mutations yet to be classified, all busted out with full-tilt garage-band gusto." Then again, by the time those words hit print, the man they were meant to describe was surely already plotting his next musical action adventure.