Pitchfork

Photo by Joseph Mohan

As Andrew Bird Soldiers On with the recording of his new album-- the follow-up to last year's Armchair Apocrypha-- the loop-y Chicago songwriter has taken up a new hobby: blogging. However, unlike those of us who would have to register for a Blogspot or Wordpress account to indulge our net-enabled diaristic impulses, Bird's words appear online in The New York Times.

More specifically, Bird is blogging about his songwriting and recording processes for the NYT blog Measure for Measure. Measure for Measure chronicles the creative processes of its contributors, who include Roseanne Cash, Suzanne Vega, and songwriter Darrell Brown.

Bird's first post is up now, and it details his preparations and plans for the new album:

"I've got 11 songs mostly written and several dozen distinct melodies. I never worry about the melodies drying up. Since I can remember, I've had melodies in my head. I chew my food to them... Words are much trickier. I would forgo words altogether if I didn't love singing them so much... I'm really an instrumentalist who sings words, and if you care to pay attention, you might enjoy them. So in this post, I will begin reporting on the progress of an as-of-yet unfinished song, with all my doubts and insecurities laid bare."

The song Bird details is tentatively titled "Oh No", and he traces its growth from the initial spark of inspiration (a child's cry on an airplane flight) to the later stages of line-editing lyrics. The post is full of nitty-gritty stuff, for those who like that kind of thing, and there will be more where it came from every few weeks.

Despite the recording and blogging, Bird hasn't neglected to schedule some shows for himself this spring and summer. The first of them is April 5 in Cincinnati. He's also been busy popping up on friends' records-- he contributes to the new Dosh record, Wolves and Whistles, out May 13 on Anticon, and to Dianogah's qhnnnl, out June 10 in the U.S. and June 16 in Europe on Southern.

Bird:

04-05 Cincinnati, OH - MusicNow Festival !
04-26 London, England - indigO2 *
04-27 Glasgow, Scotland - The Classic Grand (Tryptych Festival)
06-21 Minneapolis, MN - The Walker Art Center (Rock the Garden) #
07-19 Commerce City, CO - Mile High Music Festival
08-08 Jersey City, NJ - Liberty State Park (All Points West Festival)
08-22-24 San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival

! with Grizzly Bear
* with Loney, Dear, Cass McCombs
# with New Pornographers, Cloud Cult, Bon Iver