Singer, songwriter, violinist, guitarist, whistler, glockenspielist, and actor (on Fargo), Andrew Bird, continues “his subversion of indie rock”, (-Schaefer) by including classical, folk, expansive violin solos, and old-time jazz; and has made a remarkable document of tilting at the windmills of his inner demons during these last few years of isolation and insularity. This latest record, 2022’s Inside Problems, sees Bird once again as an entertaining thinker who can couch dark cultural commentary in joyfully buoyant pop songs, (he prefers this exercise in contrasts.) Especially entertaining is a counting/numbers song (in the vein of Schoolhouse Rock), “Eight”, which, he says, is his favorite number -  and both this live version, and the album version of this song feature a pretty epic classic rock-length violin solo. As The Thinker, he invites us into getting literary with references to the late novelist and essayist Joan Didion (and related work by Irish poet William Butler Yeats), Greek mythology (Icarus and Orpheus), The Velvet Underground, and Beethoven.

Interestingly, Bird says that rather than compartmentalizing the various musical genres and conservatory training experiences (“I spent…four years trying not to let them educate me”, Pitchfork), he says that he approaches melodies like folk music in the oral tradition, whether they are classical riffs of Ravel or Beethoven, old time music, Irish tunes, jazz standards, or Lou Reed/John Cale. So it makes perfect sense that when his internal jukebox kept spinning a piano reduction of Beethoven’s Allegretto from the 7^th Symphony, which he’d heard in the movie, Howard’s End, he turned that theme into a bridge in his own song “Atomized.”

Over the past few years, Andrew Bird has also taken up acting (Fargo), scored a Judd Apatow film, earned a Grammy nomination for My Finest Work Yet (2019), and continued his wide-ranging musical collaborations. Additionally, his work, “Hover”, was performed at the most recent 2022 Ojai Festival, in an early music instrument arrangement by Emi Ferguson (Artist Propulsion Lab Class of 2022). All this to say, we are excited and honored (ok, I am BEYOND EXCITED) that Andrew Bird plays remotely and chats about his new album for the Soundcheck Podcast. – Caryn Havlik

Set list: “Eight”, “Atomized” “Make a Picture”

Watch "Eight":

Watch "Make a Picture":