Andrew bird sisyphus5/16/2023 ![]() After soundcheck I would literally go and get a coffee or a bite to eat then come back to the venue and be like: 'Oh shit, who's playing tonight?' I am! Those people are coming to see my show. People were finally starting to come to shows, so then I didn't want to let it go! I didn't say no to anything and almost killed myself, because it was a long road to get to that point. Armchair Apocrypha and Noble Beast was the era of learning my limits. That was the Bowl of Fire era and then Weather Systems was the turning point. That's when I started, in maybe my late twenties, wiping the slate clean and seeing what I really had to say. I'd walk into a record store and think: ‘What can I learn today? What can I discover and learn from and emulate or expand upon?’ Then at a certain point I kind of exhausted those things. Up until the age of 26 I was still in music fan mode. Do you see your albums as inhabiting distinct eras?įor sure. How could it not? It would be conspicuous if it didn't. What you're consuming throughout the day and what you're seeing or observing is going to come out in your work. Also, I think your surroundings affect you no matter how you think about it consciously. I knew I wanted to try and get beyond the choir, or at least galvanise the choir. It took a minute for that idea to settle in and for the panic to subside. ![]() Patti Smith made a call to arms! We've all got a duty as artists, but acting out of duty is not usually how it works. Right after the 2016 election I felt a certain pressure. The question for me was how to raise those things without being too heavy and without losing people. There are things we're not talking about, as a people, that we need to talk about. This felt a little more focused.īecause of the political climate you were working in? Usually it’s just me digging around in my subconscious, navel-gazing and playing with words. Of course he does.īEST FIT: Did you approach writing My Finest Work Yet differently to how you’ve written records in the past?ĪNDREW BIRD: I think I did. I’ve come to find out more about why, at the age of 45, he’s made his first overtly political album. “What exactly,” he asks, “was going on in Catalonia in 1936?”Ī month later I’m sat in Andrew Bird’s kitchen at his chic, minimalist home in the leafy LA neighbourhood of Los Feliz. During a short Q&A Reilly finds himself imploring Bird to elaborate on some of his mythical and historical references. Reilly, who is a friend and fan of Bird’s. This is picked up on by the show’s host, the actor John C. ![]() My Finest Work Yet is a lush and melodic collection of songs which showcase Bird’s playful lyricism and virtuoso whistling, but they’re also shot through with nuanced political thought. The place has become something of a second home for Andrew Bird so it’s here that he’s come to debut his twelfth solo album, which he’s given the waggishly self-aggrandising title My Finest Work Yet.Īs he proceeds to play the album in full to an audience that includes the likes of Carrie Brownstein it’s clear there’s a measure of truth to that swaggering name. ![]() In its opening year the venue hosted the world premiere of the English language version of Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo Galilei, and ever since it has held a reputation for staging challenging and provocative new work by musicians and comedians alike.
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