Multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird may have been on track for a comfortable career in some mid-size city symphony when he graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in violin performance, but over the last 13 years he’s carved out a unique career path for himself as a highly distinctive songwriter with a wide-ranging musical sensibility. Bird does have killer fiddle chops, as well as an uncanny knack for whistling, but his music pulls together elements of jazz, folk and classical influences into sly, gently skewed, quasi-orchestral pop tunes that often manage to be hip and heartfelt at the same time.

Bird began his pop career by adding some zesty violin lines to a number of recordings by nouveau-retro jump jazz outfit the Squirrel Nut Zippers. By 1998, he’d released the first of three albums with his own band, Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire. He ventured into solo artist territory with 2003’s Weather Systems, and began to experiment with providing his own live back-up by way of layers of looped recordings that he could trigger through foot pedals as sang and played violin, guitar or glockenspiel. Through subsequent solo releases, Bird has emerged as a smart, sardonic lyricist and a composer of deceptively intricate arrangements. In live performance he has earned a reputation for allowing his songs to morph and shape-shift depending on varying lineups and, one would assume, Bird’s mood on a given evening.

Throughout 2008, Bird worked on writing and recording material for his fourth solo album, Noble Beast. The album features richly layered tracks with some of Bird’s most ambitious productions to date, though longtime fans will still hear plenty of violin, glockenspiel and whistling. Bird described the songwriting process behind one new song, “Oh No,” as a contributor to “Measure for Measure,” a New York Times-sponsored songwriting blog.

Provenance: Chicago, Illinois

Latest Release: Noble Beast (2009)

© 2009 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.

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