Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha (2007)

I was first introduced to Andrew Bird via the compilation album Dark Was the Night, that compiled the best indie artists out there in 2009 on the same album that shared it's proceedings to AIDS research. I bought this compilation album and Andrew Bird was one of the artists I hadn't heard before that made the biggest impression on me. He plays amazing folk music with picked violin and amazing whistling parts. Armchair Apocrypha was the first album I bought from Andrew Bird and I bought it on beautiful vinyl record with a parrot in the cover. Since then, Andrew Bird has been one of my favourite singer-songwriters out there. He sounds different from anyone else with his ingenious violin playing and whistling that's out of this world. I don't know how anyone can whistle so softly and beautifully.



I have been lucky enough to have seen Andrew Bird live as well. This was back in 2012 here in London at the Field Day festival. The day had started grey and it was quite wet everywhere. I was at the festival alone, but I knew I had some friends coming, so I just moved from stage to stage to see the artists I wanted to see and hoped to meet some of my friends at at least some of those gigs. I arrived early in front of the main stage when Andrew Bird was about to start his set and got very close to the stage. At that precise moment, the sun came out from behind the clouds and the weather improved significantly. At the same time, I spotted one of my friends who had come to see the gig as well and he had a backlog filled with beer. I got to enjoy the gig with beer in the sun and what a gig it was. Andrew Bird was just as good live as he is on the albums. Even his trademark whistling sounded amazing.

I really like the whole album from start to finish, but there's one song that I set above pretty much any other Andrew Bird song, this song is Imitosis. This song just has an amazing melody and Bird's vocals sound incredibly good. There is also loads of picked violin in this song that fits in well with the pounding drums and rhythmic guitars. The song is even further improved by the amazing glockenspiel sounds. It even has the most peculiar music video where animated beetles with jewellery on their backs are engaging in a bunch of scientific experiments and eventually build a fort of some kind. You can also see Andrew Bird himself playing his violin masterfully in a well fitting suit and colourful socks.

Since this album, I have bought a few more Andrew Bird albums. I think the quality has stayed very strong, but the more recent albums have not really brought that much new to his sound. This is probably why Armchair Apocrypha remains my favourite album from him. This is usually the case that I end up liking the album that I first got acquainted to the best, because the other albums won't have that similar element of awe towards something new.

Andrew Bird is best enjoyed on one of those lazy summer days when you can't be bothered about doing anything else than hanging out, hopefully somewhere in the nature where there is warmth from the sun, but also a cool breeze.

Listen to the album on Youtube.