Andrew Bird who put out last year’s stellar Armchair Apocrypha announced via his blog that he will be writing a series of articles for the New York Times on the process of songwriting. His first piece examines a song inspired by a terrified youngster on a flight from New York to Chicago called Oh No:

…it was looking to be the classic scenario of the child screaming bloody murder. However, I was struck by the mournfulness of this kid’s wail. He just kept crying “oh no” in a way that only someone who is certain of their demise could. Pure terror. Completely inconsolable. It was more moving than annoying.

So when I got home I picked up my guitar and tried to capture the slowly descending arc of that kid’s cry.

Bird’s tinpan alley nouveau has been a staple of the indie rock community for years now. It’s a pleasure to see those cheerful and otherworldly songs with their gears exposed. It’s a great move by the NY Times, and I can’t wait for the next article. Hopefully Andrew will write the articles before he’s told that Connor Oberst is a CIA spy.

He talks about using violin loops in the article, and I found that technique really useful in this song:

Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes [buy other Andrew Bird mp3s]

Tags: Andrew Bird, Conor Oberst, The New York Times

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