Andrew Bird: Break It Yourself.

     

     Andrew Bird, folk rocker from the Windy City, has long been a frontiersman of the neo-folk movement.  His knack for creating concise,  heartfelt folk songs.  For his seventh album, Break It Yourself, Bird continues his typical M.O, but strips his songs down.  Break It Yourself still has the sweet songs, good-natured lyrics, and omnipresent whistling, but lacks the grand flourishes and eccentric time signatures of some of his earlier works.   Bird's latest opts, instead, for languid acoustic tunes, accompanied by a sparse band, and just enough effects to accentuate how minimal the album really is.  Bird's thesis of album is most pronounced in "Hole in the Ocean Floor," where he sings softly over melancholy violin, and little else.  Break It Yourself is devoid of the musical layering that Bird has utilized in the past, but the emotive qualities of the album is still in full force.  Some fans may find themselves bored by the lack of effects and instrumentation to the album, but hopefully most ears will be able to look past that to see how gentle and lovely Break It Yourself really is.