Andrew Bird may be tongue-in-cheek about the title, My Finest Work Yet, but it’s a little humor, a wink of sorts, in our struggle to find the moral compass in these troubling times. The renowned multi-instrumental singer-songwriter, and indie favorite brings plenty of raw emotion in this album recorded live off the floor with no overdubs, no headphones, and no separation. Intentional or not, it’s a symbolic statement of unity to blend it all together rather than putting up “walls.” It’s tempting to go right to the title when describing or comparing this to his earlier work, but we’ll try to resist that temptation.
The soaring first track on the album, “Sisyphus,” the single, with Bird’s signature whistling, describes the internal struggle of suffering and being addicted to that struggle of the creative process. Of course it takes its title from the Greek king punished by Zeus for trying to outsmart the gods and cheat death. Bird elaborates on it, “is about being addicted to your own suffering and the moral consequences of letting the rock roll.” There’s optimism in the last verse as there is punctuating the recording – “Take my hand and we’ll claim the land/Take my hand and we’ll let the rock roll.”
The previously issued single, “Bloodless,” may be the linchpin track. Bird sings to empathize with those around him, “I know it’s hard to be an optimist / When you trust least the ones who claim to have the answers.” The track debuted shortly after the 2016 presidential election when the U.S. seemed to be as impossibly divided. The most recent single released is “Manifest,” a soft, ethereal, classically sounding track with Bird’s trademark whistling, posing questions about truth-telling and why are we here with lines like – “I’m coming to the edge of the widest canyon/My companions dear/I’m starting to question my/Manifest destiny/My claim to this frontier. “Cracking Codes” covers similar turf.
Another one that embodies Bird’s deep thought process for the album is ““Archipelago.” When Bird speaks about the album this way, these very words are in the song, which turns the concept of hate on its head. “I’m interested in the idea that our enemies are what make us whole – there’s an intimacy one shares with their opponent when locked in such a struggle. I we were to just walk away, would our enemies miss us? How did we get to this point and how can we, through awareness of it, maybe pull ourselves out of this death spiral?”
The musical highlight may well be “Don the Struggle,” which begins slow, flirts with an Irish reel and makes way for a gorgeous Bird violin solo. The closer, also highly melodic “Bellevue Bridge Club,” provides harmonious calm that belies the disturbing lyrics set to playing cards in a psych ward, reflecting on the aftermath of the carnage.
The live off the floor approach hearkens back to those Rudy Van Gelder studio jazz recordings of the ‘60s. Like many of them, piano and gospel-jazz-soul grooves drive the musical backing to direct, risky, and provocative lyrics. Brid plays guitar, violin and whistles accompanied by Paul Butler (vox), Tyler Chester (keys), Madison Cunningham (vox), Alan Hampton (bass), Blake Mills (guitar), Ted Poor (drums), Abraham Rounds (drums, and Mike Viola (guitar on “Archipelago” only).
My Finest Work Yet is an elegant musical piece, enriched by stimulating messaging.
