ethereal, beautiful
Haunting and elegant.
Haunting and elegant.
This track is a vast, bleak expanse of ethereal beauty! The tune is recognizable from his third live album "Fingerlings 3" where it appears as an intrumental track called "Water Jet Cilice". I saw him at a small interview/solo show last year and he said that he had recorded the instrumental version inside an empty grain silo on his farm in Illinois. It's always fantastic to hear the progression of Mr. Bird's music as his career evolves...
This track is simply excellent - more complex and sincere than most of what is on the album. That said, it was the right decision not to include it on "Armchair Apocrypha" - it simply doesn't fit the playful, ironic, pop-obsessed sound of AA.
Although a great tune, I do think the sound of it seems orthogonal to the rest of the Armchair Apocrypha album, and thus I don't have a problem with it being left off of the album; other than I had to come here to download it. :P Check out www.AndrewBird.org!
I got a chance to see him live recently, and he was great. His voice on this album reminds me of the late Jeff Buckley. I've never heard Andrew Bird's voice sound so clear and beautiful.
shameful
Bird-fanatics will recognize the underlying tune as "The Water Jet Cilice" from his Fingerlings 3 live album. It was a spectacularly beautiful instrumental recorded live and alone with his violin in his barn studio in rural Illinois. The "Self-Torture" incarnation of this tune is gorgeous, and I agree with the reviewer who stated that this song is better than most of the material that made it onto the new album.
Andrew Bird is one of my favorite artists, so naturally I downloaded Armchair Apocrypha early on the morning of it's release, and I love it, but THIS is the song that has been haunting me ever since. I've listened to it over and over, and have been whistling the tune all day, deluding myself into thinking I can whistle like Bird. What a wonderful surprise to see this eMusic exclusive. I can picture this song playing during the emotional climax of a good independent movie.
Maybe his best song ever! Beautiful whistling and wonderful acoustic guitar. Sad, but amazing.
possibly better than even anything on the new album. don't hesitate to download.