20-12-2019, 12:32
ANDREW BIRD ~ Hark!
![[Image: 61WS0fnYyIL._SS500_.jpg]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61WS0fnYyIL._SS500_.jpg)
This is what he says about it – https://pitchfork.com/news/andrew-bird-r...rk-listen/
"I’ve never had the impulse to make a holiday record until last February. I found myself enjoying the Vince Guaraldi Peanuts records and thought I’d book a few days in the studio. It was an excuse to play some classic jazz with my favorite musicians. A lot of folks have a hard time with the holidays but they serve a purpose to us as a people—to create comfort, warmth and atmosphere within the darkness and the cold that can crush one’s spirit. There are a couple originals in here that address this idea of light and warmth in the darkness as well as some classics that have some nostalgic resonance with me. Hark! What sounds come flowing alabaster?"
2. “Skating” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l44N8sr0BWE
3. “Christmas is Coming” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICKRJ-ZL7Cs
4. “White Christmas” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8WqPAdLflQ
5. “Oh Holy Night” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbbsnJmcMw8
6. “Night’s Falling” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g3tL3CKuEA
And the first track - “Alabaster” -
Huh! Andrew Bird is a law unto himself – this quirky little offering is his nod to the festive season - a Christmas EP like none other – not that it’s especially outrageous or anything like that, just that it’s a little bit unorthodox. Actually, make that a lot. 
He does a positively morose acoustic “White Christmas” which is worthy of Jim White IMHO - sounds like he’s singing to an empty echoing establishment in the 1970’s (I can actually see the intermittently flickering neon signs of the deserted hostelry), immediately after which he gives us a whistled version of “O Holy Night” along with plucked violin which is all rather lovely! Those were preceded by two jazzy instrumental numbers which are kinda loose and carefree, Vince Guaraldi’s “Skating” and “Christmas is Coming”, while the album is bookended by two sung Bird originals, “Alabaster” and “Night’s Falling”. Hark essentially means listen – or pay attention. Seems apt. I may grow fond of this morsel.
He does a positively morose acoustic “White Christmas” which is worthy of Jim White IMHO - sounds like he’s singing to an empty echoing establishment in the 1970’s (I can actually see the intermittently flickering neon signs of the deserted hostelry), immediately after which he gives us a whistled version of “O Holy Night” along with plucked violin which is all rather lovely! Those were preceded by two jazzy instrumental numbers which are kinda loose and carefree, Vince Guaraldi’s “Skating” and “Christmas is Coming”, while the album is bookended by two sung Bird originals, “Alabaster” and “Night’s Falling”. Hark essentially means listen – or pay attention. Seems apt. I may grow fond of this morsel. This is what he says about it – https://pitchfork.com/news/andrew-bird-r...rk-listen/
"I’ve never had the impulse to make a holiday record until last February. I found myself enjoying the Vince Guaraldi Peanuts records and thought I’d book a few days in the studio. It was an excuse to play some classic jazz with my favorite musicians. A lot of folks have a hard time with the holidays but they serve a purpose to us as a people—to create comfort, warmth and atmosphere within the darkness and the cold that can crush one’s spirit. There are a couple originals in here that address this idea of light and warmth in the darkness as well as some classics that have some nostalgic resonance with me. Hark! What sounds come flowing alabaster?"
2. “Skating” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l44N8sr0BWE
3. “Christmas is Coming” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICKRJ-ZL7Cs
4. “White Christmas” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8WqPAdLflQ
5. “Oh Holy Night” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbbsnJmcMw8
6. “Night’s Falling” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g3tL3CKuEA
And the first track - “Alabaster” -
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson
