Recently figuring on albums by My Morning Jacket, Will Oldham and Candi Staton, Bird has been releasing eclectic solo work of his own for a decade. Embracing swing, rock’n’roll, folk and country, his earlier LPs seemed to act as repository for a welter of American traditions. But the last two ye...
Recently figuring on albums by My Morning Jacket, Will Oldham and Candi Staton, Bird has been releasing eclectic solo work of his own for a decade. Embracing swing, rock’n’roll, folk and country, his earlier LPs seemed to act as repository for a welter of American traditions. But the last two years have seen him focus on the rockier end of the spectrum.
Armchair Apocrypha finds Bird rushing ever upward: marrying the restive explorations of Eno with the chamber-pop playfulness of ‘70s John Cale. Itchy percussive tics, Eastern melodies, spectral background fuzz and carefree whistles fill out the sound, and Bird can sing too: like Jeff Buckley on “Harmchairs” and the vaulting “Dark Matter”. A record dotted with peaks.
ROB HUGHES