Quantcast
Andrew Bird breaks through with a ‘Break It Yourself’ approach – Metro US

Andrew Bird breaks through with a ‘Break It Yourself’ approach

One week after Andrew Bird filmed an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
in Los Angeles, the singer-songwriter and violinist is back home in New
York with his segment due to air that night.

Apart from “Saturday Night
Live,” Bird has done just about all the late night TV shows. “‘Colbert’
was a high point,” he says, admitting he’s a big Stephen Colbert fan.
He’s confident that “SNL” will happen, “in due time.”

And Bird is due. “Break It Yourself,” an album which his bio calls his 12th album, has just been released.

“I
call it my ninth album,” Bird says. “It’s the ninth album that’s had a
cycle to it. There’s been a live record and soundtracks. If you count
them all up, there’s probably 15 or 16.”

That includes his pre-solo
outfit Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire, which highlighted the 38-year-old’s
love of pre-war jazz before his singer-songwriter turn. Bird’s future
work, however, might take yet another musical twist.

“I continue to
write songs that make sense as an Andrew Bird record, but I hear things
that I don’t know how to pull off yet. All I can say is what I am
hearing is less pop-oriented and more devotional, or religious. Not
religious in the sense of ‘Jesus I love you,'” he emphasizes. “It seems
like it might be time to do something a little different.”

The antisocial network

Andrew Bird is a Chicago native, but has called New York City home for almost two years. “Break It Yourself” plots his trajectory from a breakup to a new life there.

“I don’t tend to write songs where there’s any mention of breaking any hearts. There’s a theme on the record of being self-contained, self-satisfied, I suppose. A lot of New Yorkers are experts at that. I’m puzzling through whether that’s a virtue, not needing anyone else. I’ve got my own solitary, antisocial leanings. I’m kind of questioning those on the record.”