Andrew Bird is an intelligent and elegant Chicago based musician. He molds his work carefully. To give you an idea of how careful he is, he scrapped his latest album, The Mysterious Production of Eggs, three times to go as far as traveling in-between studios from Chicago, Los Angeles and his hometown in Northern Illinois until he got it right. He settled with production help from David Boucher, and had a few special guests including one my favorites, Duane Denison (Jesus Lizard), who plays guitar on "Opposite Day" and Norah O' Connor, who played the guitar and did backing vocals on Bowl of Fire and Fingerlings. After listening to this album numerous times and reading through his cleverly crafted stories which seem to be personal references to his childhood under all the metaphors. It's clear Bird is a masterful songwriter and composer, and unique one at that.
There's no familiar structure here, its connect-the-dots with out the numbers to guide you along the way. "A Nervous Tic Motion" takes a sudden turn into a little adventure straight out of a dark western; it's the first time you get to hear his incredible ability to whistle. I also found myself frequenting Merriam Webster's Dictionary quite a bit through out this song trying to figure out the theme of the song. Discovery Channel, North Platte, Hazmat? I took some time out to research and break it down and all I came up with is a connection to Buffalo Bill Cody who was known to be the spirit of the Wild West. I'll stop there and continue on before I sound like Jeff Goldblum trying to explain some radical theory. "Sovay" the opening track has a reference to the Ride of the Valkyries which is the classical piece by Richard Wagner; it's always in old war movies. You'd know it if you heard it. "They'll blow us back to the seventies / all those Don Quixotes in their B-17's / and I swear this time they'll blow us back to the seventies / and this time they're playin Ride of the Valkyries."
Bird is not a straight forward story teller and it makes for one interesting read. You'll be scratching your head most of the time and wondering but he is completely stunning though through out the entire album with his music. There's very little time you're not tuned in, you might be push out during one of the simple little interludes but he'll draw you right back in to his stories. Even Jay Ryan's artwork above each song in booklet keeps you on track as you listen on. It has the sense of nervous movement. Small animals in line walking into a fire. A boy sitting a chair with his head upside, and a red wagon with an elephant nose are just a few of the illustrations, it's kind of childish art-work but it's not far off, if you were to give a kid a box of crayons and tell him or her to draw a rabbit it'd probably wouldn't look exactly like rabbit and it'd be colored in with his or her favorite color.
It's hard to describe an album when you don't have much to compare it with. Bird has just as much classical influence as indie rock; he spins twists and manipulates the music to have energy that is real, and emotion that is true. His vocal delivery usually contrasts the tone of the music. He has a depressing delivery like Thom Yorke but it wouldn't be better any other way.
Mysterious Production of Eggs is full of surprises, It's fun, adventurous, witty, and depressing, all in one. It's an album jumps around with a bunch of different aspects and takes a few listens to get into it. The music is layered with strings, keys, dreary landscapes, and a handful of instruments including which he plays most his violin, glockenspiel and whistling which he's very good at. Bird is never on a planned route, and that is definitely a good thing. You never know when the music is going to change angles. This album is such a unique craft; the writing is very intelligent through out. You'll be grabbing for a dictionary ever so often like I was but you'll be enjoying this just as much as I did and can say to yourself that Mysterious Production of Eggs is one of the most enjoyable albums you've heard all year.
