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Andrew Bird Andrew Bird and The Mysterious Production of Eggs Released in 2005 7.6/10 Styles Singer/Songwriter Pop Rock Song Highlights A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left Opposite Day The Naming Of Things |
One of the pop/rock cliches I find the most despicable is the overuse of strings in the background of predominantly guitar-led songs. In most cases, it just feels like an awfully cheap way to elicit some sort of emotional response from the listener, particularly if the lyrics and melody aren't of a high enough quality to manage this on their own. Far too often these string sections are completely derivative and their inclusion often seems quite arbitrary, so it's enough to make me awfully suspicious of any music featuring a string section, decent or otherwise. This brings me to Andrew Bird's Andrew Bird and The Mysterious Production of Eggs, a pop/rock album featuring, lo and behold, plenty of strings. My skepticism dissolved pretty quickly, though, because Andrew Bird has managed to offer a pretty unique take on this maligned combination - he's basically turned the whole thing back to front, with the melody being driven along almost exclusively by a large selection of strings and other similarly classical instruments, while the guitar component is relegated to the humble task of adding the occasional burst of accompaniament. The pseudo-orchestral backing is particularly expressive, and makes for some very lively tunes. While the percussion has a booming depth (the sort you always hear in classical music and rarely in pop/rock), the rising and falling strings give every song an especially playful and quirky edge. The electric guitar is used in appropriate doses, never coming close to dominating any single track, but always giving the listener an extra touch that's well worth hearing. Bird's vocals are always charismatic, if a little typically singer/songwriter styled, and his lyrics posess a quirkyness to match his instrumentation. As such, there's an interesting feeling of genre-blending throughout Mysterious Production of Eggs, an amalgam between the conventional catchiness of the pop song, the complex majesty of the orchestra and the subtlety of the singer/songwriter style. The song "A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left" is the album's highpoint, with all of the above components meshing more perfectly than on any other track. Just as Bird finishes the teriffic lines "Ask our esteemed panel / Why are we alive / And here's how they replied / What happens when two substances collide? / And by all accounts you really should have died" the strings glide skyward, and lead into the song's uniquely addictive melody. The chorus is even better, complemented by echoed whistling and the best delivered "dow dow dow dow dow" vocal accompaniament I've heard in a while. Yes, it's good enough that it warrants typing out "dow dow dow dow dow." Twice, apparently. The remainder of the album is great, with more of the same offbeat charisma that makes Andrew Bird such an enjoyable artist. Unfortunately, barring the wonderful "Opposite Day," none of the remaining tracks managed to live up to the promise of "Nervous Tic Motion," which I actually heard before purchasing the CD. Songs like "Sovay," "Fake Palindromes," "MX Missiles," "The Naming of Things" and the two untitled tracks are all of a high enough quality that they'd be standouts on albums by any other artist. Alongside two such awesome pieces of music they simply beg the question "Why couldn't the rest of the album be this good?" Obviously that's a pretty harsh complaint, as every album must have its highlights, but to me there was a little too much unfulfilled potential to let it slide. Barring that one complaint, Andrew Bird and The Mysterious Production of Eggs is still a very enjoyable release, and is recommended to anyone who likes their pop music quirky, catchy and unique. |