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
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