Andrew Bird: Armchair Apocrypha (Spunk) BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2007

 |   |  <1 min read

Andrew Bird: Dark Matters
Andrew Bird: Armchair Apocrypha (Spunk) BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2007

Years ago this Chicago singer-songwriter-violinist helmed his band Bowl of Fire through strange back-alleys of music which referred to blues and jazz of the 20s, circuses and travelling shows, low-rent bars and brothel music of old time New Orleans, and a bit of Tom Waits.

After a while I gave up telling people how good he was.

It's that time again however -- but for very different reasons, and very different music.

Bird now makes a kind of eclectic, bent and sometimes dramatic folk-rock with dark alt.rock overtones -- although every now and again you can hear echoes of that earlier stylistic implosion.

As with Richard Swift (see tag), he is uncompromising in his arrangements but is profligate of melodies and almost throws them away. And shoots these songs through with disconcertingly clever (but not clever-clever) lyrics: you might never want to fly again when you read the incisive and economic lyrics of the opener Fiery Crash.

Dreams, half-remembered visions, oblique stabs at contemporary politics through the prism of history, lives of boredom and tension . . .

Bird is one smart cookie, but it is his music which will initially transport you.

This is a real grower and could appeal to Arcade Fire and Richard Swift fans alike.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

The SteelDrivers, The SteelDrivers (Rounder)

The SteelDrivers, The SteelDrivers (Rounder)

Some people have (understandably) said to me they didn't quite get this immediately -- and to be honest nor did I. Bluegrass isn't my thing: I find the vocals often nasal and whining, the... > Read more

Various Artists: Waiata; Maori Showbands, Balladeers and Pop Stars (EMI)

Various Artists: Waiata; Maori Showbands, Balladeers and Pop Stars (EMI)

After the interest in -- and award-winning success -- of Chris Bourke's marvellous every-home-should-have-one book Blue Smoke, this double disc collection seems almost mandatory. It scoops up a... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

WINDOWS ON WORLDS: Just point and shoot

WINDOWS ON WORLDS: Just point and shoot

I can't remember when I started doing it, but certainly in 1995 when I first went to Vietnam – the year after it opened itself to foreign tourists – I was taking a photo out the window... > Read more

The MC5: The Big Bang! The Best of the MC5 (2000 compilation)

The MC5: The Big Bang! The Best of the MC5 (2000 compilation)

Writing against the tenor of these times, let it be said that sometimes there's no particular advantage in being first. Take Detroit's MC5. Essentially they made snotty, loud, politicised... > Read more