Andrew Bird "Armchair Apocrypha" (Fat Possum)
By Peter A. Holden
Monday. Apr 09, 12:51 PM
The magician of songwriting continues to dazzle.

It took me a while to come across Andrew Bird. In fact, I cannot lie, it was not of my own accord that I finally did so. But luckily, I had a friend with exceptionally great taste expose me (although not forcibly) to him. It basically took all of five seconds of one track to make me see the bigger picture. Moreover, it took about three seconds to completely fall in love with the combination of instruments and the timber of his singing voice. The bigger picture is one that’s still unfolding slowly as his career develops, but for sure, Andrew Bird is a magician of songwriting. Extremely unique is one way to put it. That being said, every recording he does pushes the magic a little further.

Armchair Apocrypha is another peeled back layer of the onion that is Bird’s repertoire. With such a heavy back catalogue of various types of recordings, everything from solo work to full band, it’s easy to get lost in trying to decipher what’s at the nature of his particular style. I tend to listen very intently to everything he does, to see what I can glean from it and try to see what I have overlooked in the past. Generally, Bird keeps the layering simple, the combinations of instruments down to a minimum. There’s no mystery in the orchestration, but there’s majesty in the individual pieces. It’s the way he employs those instruments that makes the music so memorable. Whistling, violin plucking (as well as beautiful bowing), vocal croons (and spoken word), drums, pianos, guitars. It’s not too much to work with, but Bird seemingly has never-ending combinations. That right there is the rub. A sea of combinations and great melodies locked away in a vault, because he continues to surprise and impress with every turn of this album.

What makes Armchair Apocrypha so strong is not anything new stylistically so much as the strength of what’s already very well established. Andrew Bird is continually refining his craft. Shaping every shuffling somber tune, every gentle string caressed moment, into larger songs and pieces. “Simple X” is a culmination of all those snippets of musical investigation into style (whether intentionally or not). Strung together seamlessly, “Darkmatter” is a testament to all of Bird’s abilities coming together in an epic tuneful smile. Most of the album actually does not reach such heights of grandeur, which is what makes the track so important in this case. It’s a departure for the disc in some ways, but not compared to previous albums. It capitalizes on Bird’s capacity to swell and pound. This album seems to me like a highly developed study in quiet versus loud, swell versus faint away.

I think all musicians achieve an opus no matter how much or how little they physically leave behind. I don’t think Andrew Bird is aiming for an opus necessarily, but rather a long career of songwriting and crafting. I think it’ll be up to us to determine his opus, and he’ll just keep plugging away, making better and better music. My guess is his opus will reveal itself throughout the length of his career, in various forms. And instead of one single song, it’ll take the form of many different shades of his work. Armchair Apocrypha is another great step in the development of an incredibly unique artist. It just may be part of that eventual opus.
www.andrewbird.net
www.fatpossum.com

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Peter A. Holden

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