Andrew Bird on making The Mysterious Production of Eggs

Andrew Bird set up in a rundown barn on the family farm three hours west of Chicago, hiring a carpenter for the tricky work while he fitted boards for the ceiling and moved in. The isolation in a February of snow, with friends who had no cars, pushed him into long stretches alone; he began experimenting with a loop pedal and playing all day and night, mixing pop, jazz, violin, guitars and polyrhythms while unpacking old wounds.

Sitting in Denny’s at 4am inspired the absurd humour of “A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left,” a gesture he used to shake off dark thoughts. Other songs addressed the commodification of genius and warrior culture, and “Fake Palindromes” imagined a personal ad that grows disturbingly specific.

Bringing musicians into the barn proved overwhelming—people sleeping on the floor and drinking too much—so he decamped to Nashville, made Weather Systems to let off steam, and tried recording Eggs there without success.

andrew bird, mysterious production, family farm, barn, loop pedal, violin, polyrhythms, nashville, weather systems, fake palindromes