Andrew Bird

One of the first Take Away Shows I watched was a man unfamiliar to me, Andrew Bird. He had me at his whistle. I'm often praised for my whistling capabilities, but the noises that come through this man's lips will never be matched by mine. I picked up his album soon thereafter.

Well, it just so happened that he showed up in Bethlehem last night. Imagine that: a national act, that I'm interested in, still enjoying popularity, was actually playing right down the street. (Usually it's the top 40 band of yesteryear, the band everyone jokes about now a few years later, take Hootie and the Blowfish or Sugar Ray, for example.) While the price felt a little steep, we went for it.

It was a magical evening, Bird by himself with his violin, glockenspiel, guitar, crazy loop pedals, sock monkey and large phonograph-inspired-flower-sculptures, along with his theatrical mannerisms and neurotic twitches, his smooth voice, and his awe-inspiring-pitch-perfect-spot-on whistle.
If Willy Wonka had pursued a career in music rather than chocolate, it would sound (and look) something like this.

I'm beginning to be underwhelmed by the use of loop pedals, but when Bird comes up with a violin part that quickly and easily becomes 20 unique layers thick, you know you're watching a different caliber of musician, not to mention the fact that his violin skills are top-notch. In other words, he is worthy of the praise he's received over the years; he's not another run-of-the-mill indie-musician pulling out more instruments that he can't actually completely play just for gimmick's sake.

And all of it is so incredibly natural. The creative music that pumps through his veins and oozes out his fingers without a second thought is simply stunning.

So, life has been a bit crazy for us around here lately. School feels more draining than last year, and there are plenty of other things on our plate to attend to, the least of which is the sermon I was just recruited to preach in one week. (Yes. Me. My first sermon. Weird. I know.) But it was a wonderful breath of relaxing fresh air to get into the mind and world of Mr. Andrew Bird last night. I have a feeling he'll be my background music as I'm attending to all my work over the next week.

Here's the video that introduced me to Bird, a song sadly missing from his set last night, and a performance without violin or loop pedals, but just as captivating nonetheless.



And find some free live Andrew Bird songs over here.