Name: A one-man orchestra of the imagination
Uploaded: 2010-11-05T14:24:00Z
Duration: 19 min 3 s
Description: Musical innovator Andrew Bird winds together his trademark violin technique with xylophone, vocals and sophisticated electronic looping. Add in his uncanny ability to whistle anything, and he becomes a riveting one-man orchestra.

Musical innovator Andrew Bird winds together his trademark violin technique with xylophone, vocals and sophisticated electronic looping. Add in his uncanny ability to whistle anything, and he becomes a riveting one-man orchestra.

A one-man orchestra of the imagination

Music becomes a lens for seeing self-destructive feedback loops found in both nature and human emotion. A microphone placed too close to its source creates an unpleasant screech, just as nature punishes inbreeding or a mind turns on itself in overprotection. Through vivid musical demonstration and poetic lyrics, the performance explores the risk of becoming immune to heartbreak only to cause one's own pain. Even the act of eyes straining to see themselves becomes a metaphor for our inward spirals.