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Andrew Bird
Weather Systems
Righteous Babe Records, 2003

by Dr. Christian Carey

Andrew Bird may never live down the moniker "Ex-Squirrel Nut Zippers violinist," which is really too bad. As good as the SNZ's are/were, their relatively narrow pocket of musical activities, swing band revival mixed with a liberal dose of jump blues, nowhere near describes the large gamut of styles with which Bird is conversant: classical, Gypsy, jazz, world, and yes, swing and jump blues.

One of the striking things about Bird's latest release, however, is that he has really honed his pop songwriting craftsmanship, too. "I" sounds like a mixture of Paul Simon's vocal delivery and latter day ethnic music adventures combined with just a dash of Sting's "Mad About You" (off of Soul Cages). "Lull" has a sense of David Byrne's solo work about it, although Bird's vocal demeanor has a far cooler delivery. "First Song" even shows a bit of folk pop, with some lovely vocal harmonies and pervasive dovetailing of pizzicato violin with plucked acoustic guitar lines. "Skin" serves as an effective, short instrumental with a lot of pep and more of those irresistable pizzicati. The last three tracks on the record, "Weather Systems," "Don't be scared," and "9," although they are not entirely without vocals, play like a miniature violin concerto, with a related key scheme and shared motivic materials.

From the keening "singing sword" solo at the beginning of "First Song," to the cadenza that begins "Weather Systems" to the frequent plucked passages, Bird uses his violin as a focal point in the album's arrangements. That said, it is remarkable how many different playing styles he skillfully incorporates into Weather Systems while still maintaining a consistently recognizable sound all his own. It is this versatile use of the violin (no one will confuse him with the sawing of Boyd Tinsley), along with considerable compositional ambition and scope, that makes Bird's music stand out from much of the pop out there as singularly elegant work.

-Dr. Christian Carey, October 2003