Review in Retrospect: Armchair Apocrypha

A Look at Singer/Songwriter/Whistler Andrew Bird's Third Solo Album

Jan 22, 2009

Armchair Apocrypha is Andrew Bird at his finest. The album features tight, well put-together songs, powerful lyrics, and even some hooks over Bird's trademark whistling.

After Andrew Bird's departure from Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire in 2003, the multi-instrumentalist decided to venture solo waters to unprecedented success. By far the peak of his sound came with his 2007 release, Armchair Apocrypha.

While he used his early songwriting career to define his sound, his third solo album shows Bird expanding on instrumentation while keeping his songs incredibly structured and surprisingly catchy.

Although his newest release the 2009 Noble Beast shows him drifting away from conventional song structure, Armchair Apocrypha keeps each song organized in order to allow Bird to both add new sounds to his musical repertoire and exploit his already-existing trademarks.

The most recognizable part of Andrew Bird's music is by far his “Bird whistle”. The perfect-pitch virtuoso has incredible talent at whistling, and Armchair Apocrypha utilizes his whistle exactly when necessary (as opposed to in Noble Beast, where the whistle is exploited a little too much).

It also includes a great deal of Bird's native instruments: violin, acoustic guitar, keyboards, and voice. Bird finds the perfect sonic balance on the album; the keys aren't overpowering and the violin accents his voice greatly in tracks like “Armchairs”.

In addition to his sonic balance, Bird has gone through great lengths to make his songs meaningful and powerful. “Armchairs”—a seven minute epic, the length of which is new to Bird's music—ends with Bird comparing time to “a crooked bow”. “Heretics,” despite its poppy electric guitar, has a chorus of “Thank God it's fatal”. No matter what the topic of the song, Bird continuously finds insightful one-liners that are as catchy as the rest of his music.

Electric Instruments, General Poppiness Added to New Album

But as much as Bird refines his music for the better, he pulls some new tricks out of his sleeve that give Armchair Apocrypha slight differences which make it exciting for a veteran Andrew Bird fan and instantly endearing to a new Bird lover.

In terms of instrumentation, Bird goes electric on a few tracks, accenting his acoustic guitar with an electric one and throwing subtle synthesized effects in every so often. This greatly benefits “Darkmatter,” a song about maturity and identity, which has soft flutes and electric guitars under it.

Andrew Bird has certainly upped the ante on Armchair Apocrypha; pulling out new instruments, making his songs faster and catchier, and actually trying to get a point across. The album comes together beautifully, and is a must have for Andrew Bird fans or lovers of indie rock in general.

The copyright of the article Review in Retrospect: Armchair Apocrypha in Indie Rock Music is owned by James Blake. Permission to republish Review in Retrospect: Armchair Apocrypha in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.