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Feb 06, 2019 Andrew Bird By Christopher Roberts

Andrew Bird is releasing a new album, the amusingly titled My Finest Work Yet, on March 22 via Loma Vista. Previously he shared its opening track, “Sisyphus” (which was one of our Songs of the Week), and performed the song on the Chris Thile-hosted public radio show Live From Here. Now he has shared a video for the song. Matthew Daniel Siskin, which features Bird riding a bike in the desert and climbing a mountain, sometimes in a big mask. Watch the video below. Bird has also announced some album release shows in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York and those are below too.

Bird had this to say about the video in a press release: “We shot this video after a storm system moved through Los Angeles and there was a strange mist wisping through the mountains. I had an acute panic attack as I was standing on the edge of a thousand-foot precipice wearing this giant head mounted on a baseball helmet. The more extreme shots were handled by my stunt double, pro-climber Sterling Taylor.”

He adds: “I wanted the whistle melody to be this glorious wind in your hair rock n roll moment like a scene from Easy Rider thus the Dennis Hopper wig. The idea was to have a whole spin class on a flatbed truck, but I think this captures that sense of futility.”

In a previous press release Bird said of the album: “I think My Finest Work Yet is my finest work yet.” The album includes “Bloodless,” a politically themed song that Bird released in November and was our #1 Song of the Week.

The album tackles our current divisive political climate, as Bird explained in the previous press release: “I’m interested in the idea that our enemies are what make us whole-there’s an intimacy one shares with their opponent when locked in such a struggle. If we were to just walk away would our enemies miss us? How did we get to this point and how can we, through awareness of it, maybe pull ourselves out of this death spiral.”

Bird added: “There is a certain optimism to this record…it’s pretty up musically though it doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the lyrics.”

“Sisyphus” is named after the Greek king who was punished by Zeus “for trying to outsmart the gods and cheat death,” as the press release put it. In the myth, Sisyphus was forced to push a heavy rock up a hill over and over again, with it rolling back down after each attempt. Bird said the track “is about being addicted to your own suffering and the moral consequences of letting the rock roll.”

Paul Butler produced My Finest Work Yet, which was recorded at Barefoot Recordings in Los Angeles, CA. Bird’s last album, Are You Serious, was released in 2016 via Loma Vista.

Andrew Bird Tour Dates:

March 07 - Los Angeles, CA - Largo
March 08 - Los Angeles, CA - Largo
March 21 - Los Angeles, CA - Largo
April 02 - Chicago, IL - Green Mill
April 03 - Chicago, IL - Green Mill
April 08 - New York, NY - National Sawdust
April 09 - New York, NY - National Sawdust

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