Whistle while you work: Andrew Bird in concert

On the slanted standing space of the Rialto Theatre earlier this month, I stood about 30 feet away from the stage, watching Andrew Bird perform. A whistling, singing-songwriting, guitar-and-glockenspiel-playing classically trained violinist out of Chicago, Bird released his 9th album Break it Yourself on March 6th and hit Tucson on his tour on April 20th. All of the people who attended either sat upstairs in the Rialto balcony or stood in the general admission area, and they mostly seemed to fall quiet as he held his violin in his hands like a guitar, strumming and plucking out melodies and rhythms.


Using a footswitch (a device used to record, loop, and manipulate sounds) Bird easily coaxed notes from his instrument and then with a tap of his foot, multiplied them into more noise than I thought could ever reasonably come from one violin. After just seconds of Bird's careful concentration and impeccable timing, he had created an orchestra of chords and rhythms and melodies from the pizzicato of his four strings, creating looping backing tracks that he could control and manipulate with his feet. Occasionally he would shoulder his instrument and draw the bow across the string, adding even more layers and waves of sound to the repeating tracks that echoed through the dark theatre.
Then he started to whistle.


Even standing close enough to see Bird purse his lips and expel air, I almost didn't believe the sound was coming from his mouth- the whistling cut through all other noise in the Rialto and resonated through the theatre. When I left the venue I attempted to whistle a tune myself, and was thoroughly disappointed.

The energy that Andrew Bird and his band cultivated on stage is almost (but not quite) contained in his recent release, Break it Yourself. Recorded in a barn with Andrew Bird and band playing live to an 8-track tape, the album is worth a listen if you're into folk-rock tunes plus some violin, glockenspiel, and of course, whistling. The sound and feel of the entire album is very organic and different from anything I've ever listened to. "A lot of bands lose the juice recording in the studio, one layer at a time, where every measure is accounted for," Bird says about Break it Yourself. "Here, each song leans from left to the right, the tempos fluctuate. It's an appealing sound. Symmetry is generally kind of ugly in nature."

Bird also released a feel-good rendition of Kermit's Bein' Green on the Muppets Green Album, which is peppered with catchy violin melodies and Bird's signature whistling.

Enjoy!