Don't listen to "Armchair Apocrypha" while standing. You might think that you're okay through the first two minutes of the first song, "Fiery Crash," but your knees will weaken when the array of instruments crescendo. It then becomes clear that by recruiting a variety of creative musicians, like drummer and keyboard player Martin Dosh, Andrew Bird's latest release "Armchair Apocrypha," has a decidedly different feel than his earlier releases. It is not Bird's best effort to date, but in spite of its faults, it projects his musical genius.
The second song, "Imitosis," calls upon Bird's gypsy roots with a Latin drumbeat. Its wandering acoustic guitar lines and subtle violin overshadow the semi-cheesy lyrics; he sings, "we're all basically alone," an unoriginal theme in the scene of popular music; however, he puts a hard, deterministic spin on the idea: "What is mistaken for closeness is just a case of mitosis."
He has never been praised for his lyrical prowess, yet this clever variation on a common theme attracts the listener to the song.
One thing Andrew Bird almost never fails to deliver is a catchy, pretty melody. "Heretics," the fourth song of the album, is a perfect example. The vocals are used as another instrument following the guitar riff during the verse and chanting during the chorus, giving the song a ritualistic feel that echoes the heretical idea given by the title and lyrics.
Bird opens the fourth song with eerie whistling, a valuable part of his repertoire that had been missing through the first three tracks. He proved that he is one of the best whistlers with 2005's "Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs." Once again, the listener becomes aware of his less than outstanding lyrics. He obviously has a great ear though, for his vocalizing rings beautifully over the violin and tom-filled drums.
"Plasticities" employs plucked violin, glockenspiel and background whistling that give it a complex and pretty melody. Once again, Bird's voice follows the guitar's melody. By this point in the album, the listener grows slightly tired of his ironic lyrics. He is almost too clever to be taken seriously.
The next song, "Armchairs," opens as a pretty ballad describing a relationship in which Bird's vocals call to mind Radiohead's Thom Yorke. He throws in some dissonance at the climax of the song that drives it away from its initial contemporary jazz tempo before bringing the beat back down to its initial state and whistles masterfully. "Armchairs" is a song that is seven minutes long for a reason; it develops by changing several times in the duration of the track.
The next song, "Simple X," has very fast and busy drums that hark back to Radiohead's "Kid A" period. However, the lyrics once again disappoint with the played-out theme of mediocrity, boredom and "simple exercises" in day-to-day life, which leaves the listener with the same feeling about the song.
Both "Cataracts" and "Scythian Empire" deftly utilize the acoustic guitar, creating flowing lines that immediately draw the listener in. "Cataracts" laments not seeing things clearly, while "Scythian Empire" refers to an old people that conquered the Russian steppes in the first century B.C. It opens with a piano part echoed by plucked violin at the end of the song, giving it a conclusive property.
Bird could have ended with "Scythian Empire," but there are two more tracks. "Spare-Ohs" gives the listener more artful whistling, but does not have anything new to offer that wasn't included earlier.
The final song, "Yawn at the Apocalypse" opens with chirping birds followed by a high-pitched violin melody that fits the coming spring which, coincidentally, came on the day after the album's release.
An apocrypha is a collection of inspired writings of uncertain origin. Bird is certainly inspired on "Armchair Apocrypha." The music he creates is just as beautiful as it has ever been - if only he could stick to whistling, violin, guitar and glockenspiel and let someone else write the words.
A solid pop album with very catchy melodies, it lacks a certain element that keeps it from being a milestone release or revolutionary pop music that would raise the bar for singers in the future.
