Andrew Bird: Live from Brooklyn

Andrew Bird and the Hands of Glory played during Studio 360’s recent live performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The evening was loosely themed around fear, and it’s a subject Bird has addressed in his songwriting at length. “Every time I get on a plane, and I get on a lot of planes, I have to envision the fiery crash,” Bird tells Kurt Andersen in an interview. “I figure if I imagine it happening it would be redundant for it to happen in reality. That’s how I face my fears. I have this ritual.”

Tift Merritt, a gifted songwriter with a solo career who’s currently touring in Bird’s band, believes that all musicians have to get over fears of revealing themselves. “A great deal of being a musician is about taking the leap and opening your heart and putting as much of yourself into the sound as you can. I think that takes a kind of blind fearlessness.”

In his song “Near-Death Experience Experience,” Bird sings about the joyful feeling that comes with overcoming fears:

We’ll dance like cancer survivors, like we’re grateful simply to be alive.

Andrew Bird performs with Alan Hampton (bass), Eric Heywood (pedal steel), Kevin O’Donnell (drums), and Tift Merritt (vocals).

→ Hear more of Studio 360’s live show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music