Bird chirps eccentric pop
Nature can be pretty strange sometimes. When you step away from it all, who would have ever thought of creating an animal like a barnacle or a three-toed sloth? But, for all of their eccentricity, they just seem to fit. That is what Andrew Bird is like. Classical violin, glockenspiel, and whistling are hardly the stuff of pop music, but Andrew Bird doesn’t seem to notice.
Genre labels have never stuck to Bird’s eclectic stew, which is best described as a mix of eclectic rhythms, strangely resonant Beck-like lyrics, and classic folk structures. Is isn’t quite folk, pop, rock, or jazz. Instead, it’s more like hypnotism. The ethereal songs, tied together with soft strings, blend into a coherent, cloudy mood. Bird’s albums are rainy days, with notes falling from the guitars like rain drops: chaotic, strange, and strangely soothing.
Andrew Bird songs are remarkable in their ability to explore the world with adult-like resignation and child-like wonder. They are at once an acknowledgment of the world’s wrongs and a plea not to let them get you down. His latest album, “The Mysterious Production of Eggs,” deals with what he describes as “childhood under attack by shadowy forces that want to measure, commodify, and buy and sell things which can’t be measured.” It’s weighty subject matter for songs with names like “A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left” and “The Happy Birthday Song,” but those off-kilter songs are what make the whole thing work.
Bird can tackle such lofty subject matter in such a simple, unpretentious manner that it’s easy to forget how good his songs are. Listening to one of his albums is like holding a stethoscope to your chest and listening for your heart. Like all of life’s most important revelations, it’s alien but familiar. And that is the draw to Andrew Bird. His albums feel as natural as our lungs, eyes, and heart, and resonate on that same basic level. Simply put, it’s music of the soul and shouldn’t be missed.
Zach Pendleton is a music critic for the Utah Statesman. Comments can be sent ot him at zpendleton@cc.usu.edu