Chicago native Andrew Bird’s latest offering, “Break it Yourself,” stays true to the savvy wit and unique whimsy fans have come to expect from his music.
A master at combining virtuoso fiddle playing and a signature whistling style that doesn’t seem to seem in its own right (among other delightful flourishes), Bird effortlessly manages to always maintain a pop sensibility that guarantees repeated playing without flipping. too boring. It’s no different this time.
On “Desperation Breeds,” the album’s opener, Bird delicately ponders the world’s bee scarcity before slowly breaking into a high-pitched violin screech that plunges into a mad frenzy of his signature fingering skills. It almost literally seems to channel the frustration and confusion of the bees themselves.
“Eyeoneye,” a track that manages to correlate heartbreak and complications from a tumor called a teratoma, is as catchy as anything she’s done in the past, if not more. The driving force of the melody makes vulnerability seem like a fun experience that no one should miss out on. This is especially clear towards the end when she sings/sings “Go ahead, defibrillate yourself” before the drums boom into a crescendo… and then sizzle, of course, with a slight hiss; like we just ran a hardcore marathon like nothing happened. Here there is no exhaustion, but exultation.
The theme of heartbreak continues in “Near Death Experience Experience,” where the joy of surviving a plane crash is dancing “…like cancer survivors…grateful just to be alive.” But don’t let the dark theme fool you. The song’s carefree mood is so happy it’s like jumping down a sidewalk under a row of apple trees. Only when the apples hit your head do you realize the power that the letters of triumph over pain convey.
Who knew that the theme of conquering fear and doubt could be so purely beautiful? Take “Fatal Shore,” for example, where a mild-mannered Mr. Bird ponders the subject as calmly as ever, but no less emotionally powerful than some of his best songs. The drums hit softly along with the guitar and bass like a gentle thump on an aching back as Bird and vocalist Nora O’Connor harmonize beautifully as they repeat lyrics like “You never know no doubt like us who breathe in and out.”
A welcome return from 2009’s “Noble Beast,” we have a record that isn’t as immediately accessible or endlessly fun, but still as strong as most of their best work. The details become more apparent with each listen, and that’s when it hits: “Break it Yourself” isn’t just an album about a breakup. In reality, it is a whole entity that beats, not unlike a heart with its own love to give.
Personally, I wouldn’t want to break this kind of heart by myself. That’s where you, the listener, come in… to feel the joy of heartbreak. An oxymoron that only makes sense in the world of Andrew Bird.
