Many musicians will look up to the American multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird. The Chicago man is an excellent singer, violinist and guitarist. 'There are more of them', you will rightly think, but Bird is also a virtuoso art whistler and a gifted songsmith. Bird and his skilled session musicians feel especially at home on stage. With this type of musicians it is always a question of what will become
… of their reputation in the studio and Bird seems aware of this. Break It Yourself was recorded live in a shed and so the recording process is an extension of the live show. With a lot of virtuosity in the ranks, there is a danger that you have to listen to pieces of art for a long time on a CD. Fortunately, boasting with craftsmanship is kept to a minimum. Birds inventive technique is only used to perform the fourteen pop songs optimally. Early on the album this results in the infectious Danse Caribe and Give It Away in which folk, indie and pop artfully frolic around each other. Break It Yourself, for example, overcomes all kinds of pitfalls and Bird again appears to be an example for many on this CD. (JE)more