A Thousand Tiny Suns That Glow

Andrew Bird “Truth Lies Low”

I ignored Andrew Bird for over a decade, and I’m not sure why. Maybe I just thought he was another Sufjan Stevens, and I’ve always had negative vibes about that guy? Perhaps I heard the wrong random tracks along the way? I probably just associated him too closely with NPR and shrugged him off, just as I do with a lot of other artists in that cultural niche. It’s so easy to be dismissive of pleasant, introverted soft rock, even when you like pleasant, introverted soft rock.

“Truth Lies Low” reminds me a lot of Grizzly Bear in good ways – there’s a gentle grace to the melody, and even if there’s a bit of fussiness to the arrangement, it’s not so neat and tidy that all character is lost. Bird, like the Grizzly Bear guys and the full-band incarnation of Iron & Wine, puts his songs together like a hip interior decorator. A low organ riff gently rumbles through the track, and it sits in the center of it like a handsome table made from “reclaimed wood.” The bright metallic pizzicato notes plucked on Bird’s violin and all those soft snare taps are like bits of intriguing ornamentation that draw your attention without being too distracting. The song feels like a shabby place turned into something quite fancy, or perhaps vice versa. I listen to it and feel like I’m about to pay too much for a cocktail. But it’s going to be a good cocktail, and I’m going to enjoy being in the room even if I’m not certain I belong there.

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