• News

• All

Nov 08, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird has surprise released HARK!, a new Christmas EP that features two original songs (“Alabaster” and “Night’s Falling”) and covers of four holiday classics. It’s out now via Loma Vista and can be streamed below. The covers are of Christmas standards “Holy Night” and “White Christmas,” as well as Vince Guaraldi’s “Skating” and Guaraldi’s version of “Christmas Is Coming” (both originally from the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas).

Bird had this to say about the EP in a press statement: “I’ve never had the impulse to make a holiday record until last February. I found myself enjoying the Vince Guaraldi Peanuts records and thought I’d book a few days in the studio. It was an excuse to play some classic jazz with my favorite musicians. A lot of folks have a hard time with the holidays but they serve a purpose to us as a people-to create comfort, warmth and atmosphere within the darkness and the cold that can crush one’s spirit. There are a couple originals in here that address this idea of light and warmth in the darkness as well as some classics that have some nostalgic resonance with me. Hark! What sounds come flowing alabaster?”

Bird released a new album, the amusingly titled My Finest Work Yet, back in March via Loma Vista and in July was cast in the new season of FX’s crime anthology show Fargo.

Read our interview with Andrew Bird on My Finest Work Yet.

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.