Andrew Bird - Soldier On » Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream

31st January 2008

Andrew Bird - Soldier On

This post was written by Benji

While not a part of the Fingerlings series that Bird has released in order to showcase his live talents and satiate his fans’ desire for more material, His Birdness has released another collection of live, unreleased, and works-in-progress EP entitled Soldier On. Some of these tracks I was able to hear when Bird came to Northwestern last May (”Sectionate Cities”) while others are completely new to me (”The Trees Were Mistaken”). The EP points toward a more extroverted Bird, as the listener finds him playing intricate melodies with his trademark loops.

Overall, it just impresses me the way that Bird has no preoccupations with releasing rough drafts of his music. But what impresses me even more is that he will go back and refine these songs for an album–he’s not afraid to reveal his imperfections. He illustrates to the listener (or at least to me) that the artistic process is a humbling one. And despite all the success he has had over the past few years, he has no qualms in acknowledging that he still has work to do, a mission to fulfill.

Pitchfork has a review here on Soldier On.

Listen to “Sic of Elephants” (4.8/5)

Listen to “How You Gonna Keep ‘Em Down On the Farm” (4.7/5)

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1 On January 31st, 2008, anonimo said:
Bird’s treatment of “How You Gonna Keep Down On The Farm” is genius. Listen to the original spirit of the song here:

http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/howyagonna.htm

An uptempo novelty tune w/o much staying power beyond the great lyric in the refrain (”How you gonna keep em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paris?”). Bird’s version slows it down, completely retools both melody and rhythm, and transforms the country bumpkins Ma & Pa Reuben (Reuben is where we get the word “rube”) into real people. Without changing a word of the lyric, Bird rescues the song from its Tin Pan Alley writers, his delivery transforming their jokes and winks into wistful sadness.

Good thing too, since the farms are all empty now, and not (just) because the boys got too sophisticated for them.

posted on January 31st, 2008 at 4:45 pm

Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream
Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream will serve as a blog for me to share my thoughts and musings, with a special emphasis on music. The music that will appear in this blog is for evaluation/sampling purposes only, and is designed to promote up and coming bands. Remember, if you like the artist(s), buy the CD! If you are the owner of a sound file and would like it removed, please contact us and we will kindly take it down.