ANDREW BIRD + A Hawk and A Hacksaw @ Metropolis

By Simon Howell - Sound On Sight - 04/04/2009

Some people have a way of making you feel like an asshole - people who seem to use every ounce of their energy radiating good vibes and generally make every effort to be singularly awesome. Andrew Bird is one of those people. While his idiosyncratic brand of string-laden, densely layered indie-pop surely isn't to everyone's liking, his instrumental prowess, boundless energy and lyrical dexterity are, at the very least, noteworthy. By comparison, even impressive performers can seem ordinary.

Take openers A Hawk And A Hacksaw, for instance. Now we're talking about a duo led by one Jeremy Barnes, who used to be in Neutral Milk Hotel, here doing the triple duty of lead vocalist, accordion player and percussionist (using a pedal-operated drum.) He's accompanied by a prodigiously talented violinist, Heather Trost. Their songs, which lean heavily on Balkan folk melodies and are evenly divided between instrumental and vocal works, display remarkable dexterity and passion - but after a 45-minute set of their material, their relative lack of range became obvious.

Not too long after Barnes and Trost left the stage, Bird, along with percussionist/programmer Martin Dosh (who put out a solo record as Dosh last year) and several other crack players, arrived to kick off what would wind up being an incredibly diverse set drawn principally (though not entirely) from his last two LPs, Noble Beast and Armchair Apocrypha. Bird showed off his trademark instrument-swapping skills early - most tracks would feature a violin part (or several) which he'd play live, then loop back only to set the instrument aside, swing his hips to bring his guitar forward and then play a set of chords, without missing a beat. Oh, and he's usually whistling or singing at the same time, if he's not throwing in some keyboard or glockenspiel work. Even more impressive was the fact that these well-worn moves were in support of the Noble Beast material, songs so labyrinthine you'd assume Bird must have hashed out simpler arrangements - instead, every minute pluck and shift in songs like "Not a Robot, But a Ghost" and "Masterswarm" present and accounted for, albeit with a bit more vigor. All of this, even more remarkably, was pulled off with an off-the-cuff feel, with Bird often throwing unexpected curveballs in his vocal approach. By night's end, he was performing alone with a sprightly rendition of Weather Systems highlight "Why?" not having lost an iota of momentum or interest. That, my friends, is what separates the men from the boys.

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