For the last twenty years or so, there have been two halves of Andrew Bird floating through
this world. There’s Andrew Bird the musician: a whimsical singer-songwriter/violinist who
conjures up imaginative scenarios through witty lyrics and impressive whistling solos for
sold-out crowds around the world. And there’s Andrew Bird the introvert: a new Los Angeles
resident, husband to fashion designer Katherine Tsina, and father to committed Schoolhouse
Rock! fan Sam. While both Birds intersected every once in a while, they generally existed in
U n d e r
the
In
fluence
near-perfect harmony by not overlapping. But for his thirteenth record, the tightly wound and
emotionally dense Are You Serious, it was time to bridge the gap and merge the two Birds once
and for all.
“I have a lack of patience for my own imagination these days,” Bird says with a laugh. “You
simply don’t have time to wallow in your own internal playground when starting a family and
having a kid... I appreciate a little ambiguity in music, but at the same time, I just don’t have
time to play around with words anymore.”
Any parent might read Bird’s remarks as (warranted) exhaustion due to late-night feedings and
early morning wakeup calls, but the forty-two year old’s rigid rehearsal structure and steadfast
commitment to carefully crafting Are You Serious confirm that he’s wide awake and ready to
shar