String virtuoso uses adversity to create masterpiece

Broken hearts fuel passionate music. With his latest release, Break it Yourself, Andrew Bird proves that a break-up can inspire an incredible songwriter to work at an increased level.

Bird’s previous releases dealt in observations regarding our natural surroundings, science and human behavior. His 2003 release, Weather Systems, dealt in this theme throughout the album.

Photo Credit: dcist.com

“And every time you turn the soil, another cloud begins to boil,” from the title track of Weather Systems shows the power man has on the environment.

Sidenote: Righteous Babe Records, owned and operated by Ani DiFranco in Buffalo, NY, released Weather Systems.

With his previous five studio albums, Bird has defined a genre known as chamber pop. His music takes motifs from pop music and combines them with chamber instruments like the violin and mandolin. The instruments ring with the sounds of Mozart and Tchaikovsky, proving they have been handled by a classically trained expert.

Since his 2009 release Noble Beast, Bird has made many changes. He left Fat Possum records and signed with Mom+pop Records. He started writing film scores, releasing a soundtrack for the film Norman. He played a 165-date tour in 2009 all the while in heartache from a relationship change. He suffered a heel injury on tour and dug himself deep into his work.

“I think he just ran himself ragged,” said Bird’s bassist Mark Lewis in an interview with Rolling Stone. “Being out and busy can be a false escape,” added Lewis.

Bird left the tour, wounded both in body and spirit, and began to write.

In his reclusive attempt to recover, Bird wrote 14 songs that flow together masterfully.

French filmmaker redefines live music

By Levi Trimble

Two men, an American and a Frenchman, walk along a cobblestone path, kicking up an ankle-high cloud of Parisian dust as they go.

The American, dark-haired, five o’clock shadow bearing, 6-foot-tall and wearing a checkered blazer atop a maroon, zip-up hoodie and white, button-up shirt, carries a violin. The Frenchman, a shorter man with darker hair and a goatee carries a high definition video camera slung over his right shoulder.

With perfect posture and stature, the American lifts his violin into position, raises the bow in his right hand and swiftly slides it across the strings, creating a small puff of off-white rosin near his mouth. Like wind rippling the surface of a lily-pad-covered pond, he plays, showing he can give the instrument its own voice.

Without missing a beat, the Frenchman focuses the camera on the first, recording every staccato blip, vibrato sustain and pizzicato pluck of the strings.

Photo Credit: Music Babel

He lowers his violin, holds it like a guitar and begins to strum. Overtop the harmonic accompaniment he whistles like a nightingale and sings about the weather.

People walking down the sidewalk stop and watch the spectacle in amusement. They don’t know that the musician has recorded 16 original albums, played on 53 LPs and has sat in with musicians such as Yo Yo Ma. The other man knows; he did invite him after all.

These men are renowned independent musician Andrew Bird and filmmaker Vincent Moon.