Andrew Bird captures the holiday spirit in concert

December 10, 2013|By Bob Gendron, Special to the Tribune
(Phil Velasquez Chicago Tribune)

What Pixar often accomplishes with visual animation, Andrew Bird did with sound Monday at the Fourth Presbyterian Church. Playing the first of a four-night, sold-out stand, the local multi-instrumentalist launched his annual Gezelligheid residency—intimate winter concerts coined after a Dutch term that loosely translates to "extra extra cozy"—with music couched in whimsy, imagination and wonder. Accompanied for a majority of the 110-minute show by guitarist/vocalist Tift Merritt, Bird captured the spirit of the holidays without performing a single traditional carol.

As always, the venue's gorgeous interior helped establish the mood. Bird also received an assist from the colder temperatures. Frigid weather enhanced this year's event by causing the church's interior to feel warmer than during his past installments. Wreaths, gothic arches, stained-glass windows and festive banners flanked a stage filled with more than two-dozen gramophone-style speakers. Two giant spinning double-horn speakers that Bird controlled via remote control dispersed tones in 360-degree patterns.

Combined with such surroundings and devices, Bird's graceful whistling, sonorous violin playing and looped passages allowed him to appear as the aural equivalent of a favorite childhood fantasy story. His songs served as invitations to journey on tales in which he "could taste what you were thinking" and where blended notes conveyed the sound of a singing forest, the wind blowing through trees and birds chirping in the branches. Akin to an inquisitive narrator refusing to settle for the ordinary, Bird asked philosophical questions and shot back with uncertain answers in his lyrics. Even when topics skewed toward the morose, rhymed couplets and quirky voices ensured lighthearted accents prevailed.

Afforded a freedom at Gezelligheid absent from normal concerts, Bird seized the opportunity to relax. Under no pressure to promote any particular album or lead a band, he updated songs debuted at prior Gezelligheid gigs and indulged impulses to rediscover material he admitted he no longer recognized. Rather than woodshed ideas as he has in the past, he recalled "strange times" that inspired older compositions ("Headsoak," "Darkmatter") and rearranged newer fare to reflect a sense of surprise.

For the neurotic "Why?," astonishment arrived in the forms of casual uneasiness, theatrical pauses and off-kilter humor that left Bird's intent up to interpretation. During "Three White Horses," he suddenly seemed to have an entire string section at his behest thanks to careful layering of multiple parts. With Merritt providing a steady rhythm, " Pulaski at Night" turned into a miniature jazz symphony.

The duo proved equally impressive during the second set huddled around a single microphone, armed with just two acoustic instruments and independent any delayed loops. Merritt, smiling and staring wide-eyed at Bird's nearly every move, shadowed him with high-and-lonesome vocals and strummed chords. Each shared an obvious chemistry and the desire to give back through the works of artists they admired.

While their close-harmony singing, patient pace and rustic demeanor traveled back to the frontier era, the relayed messages of comfort (the Carter Family's "When the World's On Fire"), devotion (Townes Van Zandt's "If I Needed You") and companionship (the Handsome Family's "Cathedrals") fit both the contemporary age—and the season.