A new perspective on the River Thames
Andrew Bird
Resident in the Room from 27 - 29 January 2012
Andrew Bird performed live in the Room on 28 January 2012.
The gig was streamed live through this website and by live relay to a giant screen downstairs in Southbank Centre, which was also hosting Death: A Festival for the Living.
About Andrew Bird
Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist and lyricist Andrew Bird picked up his first violin at the age of 4 and spent his formative years soaking up classical repertoire completely by ear. When it came time for a restless teen-ager to make his own way, it wasn’t such a giant leap to Hungarian Gypsy music, early jazz, country blues, south Indian etc. It's fitting that now, though classically trained, he has opted to play his violin in a most unconventional manner, accompanying himself on glockenspiel and guitar, adding singing and whistling to the equation, and becoming a pop songwriter in the process.
His work was first acclaimed in the concert setting by the curious attraction of one man generating the wealth of sound normally produced by an orchestra, seemingly composing, or at least structuring the songs. Passages of violin, guitar, voice and glockenspiel are looped and layered forging a texture of definitive hooks and rhythms out of spontaneous stabs and strums. Each night is unique; Andrew rarely replicates the album version, as beloved as they may be.
Since beginning his recording career in 1997, he has released eleven albums. His 2009 album Noble Beast won praise from Esquire, the New York Times Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Rolling Stone, Spin, and many others. He followed the release with a worldwide tour that kicked off at Carnegie Hall and included appearances at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Radio City Music Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, the Sydney Opera House and the TED conference, along with a few hundred more destinations.
Amazon.com recently named Bird’s Mysterious Production of Eggs one of the "100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums of All Time," and more recently his prior effort, The Swimming Hour, enjoyed a vinyl reissue —about which the typically sedate Pitchfork enthused: “a stroke of genius…a killer batch of songs that add up to a sublimely enjoyable whole.” More recently, Bird has had the honor of recording with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band as well as collaborating with inventor Ian Schneller on the Sonic Arboretum installation at New York’s Guggenheim Museum and Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Bird recently composed his first-ever film score for the movie Norman and his music is featured in the new Muppets movie. Bird’s latest release entitled Break It Yourself will be out March 5, 2012.
Sounds from a Room live gigs are in collaboration with the Guardian.
