New Records, Old Favorites

I've always been in awe of Andrew Bird. The multi-instrumentalist is a joy to watch; he performs as if he's utterly alone, so engrossed in creating music that nothing else matters. And although his musical styles and influences have seemingly run the gamut, you can always pick out an Andrew Bird song.

Such is the case with his latest single 'Capsized': it's Andrew Bird like you haven't heard him before, but it's definitely Andrew Bird. He debuted the song on Conan and also released the lyric video above. The track has more traces of rock and soul than we've heard before, and it feels less meandering than some of his previous works. Next album Let's Get Serious is considered his most personal to date, and it features contributions from Blake Mills (who, if you haven't heard before, is amazing in his own right) and Fiona Apple. It's due April 1st, and I can't wait to hear more of this direction. 

Okay, so I don't have a new song to post from Frightened Rabbit, so I'm sharing this photo I took with them my junior year of college. They were due to perform on campus and I saw them at a pub before the show and utterly freaked out. (But don't I look calm and normal here? Like we're best friends?) 

A new (and excellent) piece from Stereogum leads me to believe we'll see something from Frabbits soon. The album, which was recorded at Aaron Dressner's Brooklyn studio, has been done for a while now, and the band recently announced festival dates at Sasquatch and Shaky Knees. I can do the math. 

"Sure, they make anthems. But they make anthems out of the most self-conscious and embarrassingly human things."