Andrew Bird

I’ll admit: this live performance is my formal introduction to Andrew Bird. Prior to hearing this, I’d heard a mere two songs of his. I liked them and, consequently, offered my reviewing services to this live performance. When starting up this record, I had a feel not unlike a music festival where you see a band you’re hardly familiar with but it’s the only band playing between Superstars #346 and #871. The kind of band where you tell your friend “Yeah I’ve heard a little bit, and they sounded pretty good.” Then you listen to them, and you’re floored by the live performance to the point where they actually stick out more than the highly anticipated show by #871 when you get home mainly because you expected to be blown away at their show and likely were. By and large, this is how it went down while I listened to Live at Austin City Limits Music Festival 2007. Of course, the universally lacking elements of recorded live shows are present, but there is music here that is too good to miss regardless.

Pop music needs to really start the habit of using more pizzicato from bowed string instruments. Bird kicks off his show with “Anonanimal,” which essentially serves as a perfect introduction to the man and his work in my mind. Starting with a plucked melody from one string instrument (I won’t pretend I can discern a violin or viola, etc.) that is already intriguingly delicate and mildly grim, and then two more swirl around that original making for one of the richest little introductions that I’ve heard in a while. This starts to gradually build as more instruments are added on top, including a violin played with a bow to join the rest of a traditional rock setup, and the richest little intro all of a sudden becomes one of the richest and prettiest songs I’ve heard. Conveniently, there isn’t even a studio version of this piece for me to compare it with. To date, this little live slice is the only official recording of the song.

Essentially working off of the instrumental formula laid out on that first song, the rest of the show runs through several styles of pop, all the while working in more rich melodies, and of course there’s Bird’s singing and lyrics, which are augmented by the best whistling this side of Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks.” He has a low-register wail that works well with the music, and the lyrics are surprisingly rich. Normally when the music gets as much attention and care as is shown here, lyrics tend to be compromised, but I was pleased with how many great sounding lines were present like “tell us what we did wrong/ and you can blame us for it/ turn a clamp on our thumbs/ we’ll sew a doll about it” from “Heretics.” It’s cryptic enough but not alienating.

This leaves the live element to be compared to the studio iterations. If anything, it’s a live show that consciously chooses to rock out the audience, even kicking the more subdued songs up a few notches. A more bombastic affair, distorted guitars find a home on songs that were treated more tenderly in the recording booth. It’s noteworthy that such reinterpretations work so well. All too often a live incarnation of a band isn’t willing to tinker with a song in the slightest, and who can blame them when fans are on the line. It’s nice to hear that Bird is not only confident in the music despite, but that he wins all the same. All that’s really lacking is the visual presence, which is a setback for any live recording.

As, essentially, a starter myself, I can only recommend this glimpse of a great artist with all my own confidence. And being available only online, it’s too easy to go grab right now. So go.

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