“The orchestra's an amazing instrument, but I don't want to just arrange my songs for it. I think that might be kind of boring and a little bit overdramatic, perhaps. I'm still just having too much fun doing it my way, for the time being.” ThinkingWayWantKindLittlesStillsMightSongFunBitsToo MuchLittle BitInstrumentsBoringMy WayBe KindOrchestraToo Much Fun Author:Andrew Bird
“I think when I was pretty young I got really into the tone of my instrument and I remember just playing one note for an hour to just kind of feel the resonance of the violin.” ThinkingFeelsKindRememberYoungHoursInstrumentsNotesToneViolinResonance Author:Andrew Bird
“I have the barn, it's just kind of like a studio. Almost all artists have la studio to work in, and that's really what it is. A place to get away. I'll spend maybe four days out there if I can, just completely immersed - like where I don't bathe or brush my teeth for a few days, just get up and make coffee and experiment until the sun goes down.” IfsKindI CanArtistSunFourStudiosCoffeeExperimentsTeethGet UpGet AwayBrushesBarns Author:Andrew Bird
“Sometimes I just think we're not meant to fly halfway around the world in a day. That some kind of mutation is going to happen.” ThinkingWorldKindSometimesHappensAround The WorldHalfwayMutation Author:Andrew Bird
“Every time I make a record, it's kind of like scarification or something. You work 15 hours until you're stupid. You're just kind of all jittery.” KindHoursRecordsStupidYou Re Stupid Author:Andrew Bird
“I have some irrepressible pop impulses to write an appealing, concise song. And I also have some irrepressible kind of restlessness as well, and I need to keep myself interested. When I'm left to my own devices, there's a struggle.” NeedsWritingWellsKindSongLeftMy OwnStrugglePopsImpulseDevicesRestlessnessConciseIrrepressible Author:Andrew Bird
“The instrumental record is a bit subtler. It's the kind of stuff on sound check, when I first pick up my violin and start to play, the kind of melodies that just pour out of me. Some of them sound very classical. Some of them sound experimental, polyrhythmic loops that I make.” FirstsKindPlayStuffBitsSoundRecordsPicksChecksMelodyViolinLoops Author:Andrew Bird
“Anyway, I'm digressing, but this is just kind of this 10-and-a-half-minute, ambient - you hear cicadas and birds and the wind outside and crickets as I'm swelling the piece. I could never do that on a pop record. I could, but why would I want to be agitating?” WantKindHalfRecordsPiecesMinutesWindBirdPopsCricketSwellingAmbientCicadas Author:Andrew Bird
“In New York, I'm playing in a church, solo, doing instrumental stuff. There's talk of doing more, like, installation-type things with some of the specimen horns I've played through. Just filling a room in a museum with these horn-speaker sculptures and then making loops that run all day, and you walk around the room and sort of mix the sound by where you stand. That's all way in the future, but that kind of stuff is a different way of thinking about performing.” ThinkingWayKindDifferentRunningStuffSoundChurchWalksRoomsNew YorkTypePerformingDifferent WaysMuseumsSpeakersSoloSculptureFillingHornsWay Of ThinkingLoopsWhere You StandInstallation Author:Andrew Bird
“The melodies come out so strong that I'm like, "Oh, crap." It's really better if they could both be kind of able to compromise, but the melodies, even more recently, they come out very fully cast and formed.” IfsKindAbleStrongCastsCompromiseMelodyBe KindCrap Author:Andrew Bird
“Some of my earlier songs are kind of more about mental illness.” KindSongIllnessMental Illness Author:Andrew Bird
“With the words, a lot of things start with questions. Some word kind of piques my interest, and I love the way it sounds, but I really don't know what it means. And I honestly don't care for a while.” KnowsWayKindMeanCareSoundInterestDon't CareHonestlyPique Author:Andrew Bird
“There's kind of this unequaled thrill of playing a half-finished song, it's kind of sense of slight embarrassment; like you're blushing. I like doing that. I did that with "Eyeoneye" and it was almost a curse on the song for a while; I debuted it when it was half-finished in a very public way” WayKindSongHalfLike YouFinishedCurseThrillEmbarrassmentBlushing Author:Andrew Bird
“The first splurge of creativity is kind of free, and the last 30 percent is painstakingly hard work, but it's good to light a fire and make it public and create that expectation. It's become part of the writing process, really, a way to ask the audience what they think, how they think it's going. I can't write songs in a vacuum.” ThinkingWayWritingFirstsKindI CanHardLightLastsSongAsksProcessCreativityAudienceFireHard WorkExpectationsPercentWriting ProcessVacuums Author:Andrew Bird
“I've literally opened it up to suggestions and it's totally chaotic and kind of a bad idea. You don't need the actual feedback to get a sense. When you're showing a song for the first time, people can feel that newness.” PeopleNeedsFeelsFirstsKindIdeasSongFirst TimeSuggestionsFeedbackChaoticBad IdeasNewness Author:Andrew Bird
“Guitars are kind of just, you know, sexy, especially old vintage ones.” KnowsKindGuitarSexyVintage Author:Andrew Bird
“Honestly, I didn't have the patience for biology or history in an academic sense, but I always liked the kind of big questions.” KindBigsHonestlyBiologyAcademicBig Questions Author:Andrew Bird
“I still kind of believe this absurd line that if you have to write it down, it's not worth remembering.” IfsWritingBelieveKindStillsRememberLinesAbsurd Author:Andrew Bird
