Norman is a very up-close, personal, character drama and I'd like to do something more zoomed out, a little more pastoral, some sweeping epic. I'd like to try something different. Andrew Bird More Quotes by Andrew Bird More Quotes From Andrew Bird I'm into lately being a little less precious about writing and being like, "Okay, what if I just locked myself in my room, pretend that there's someone outside with a gun that's saying, 'Don't come out until you write something.'" Andrew Bird what-if gun writing There is something comforting about going into a practice room, putting your sheet music on a stand and playing Bach over and over again. Andrew Bird practice comforting rooms The way I work, I'm not a confessional singer-songwriter. Andrew Bird singer-songwriters singers way The idea of writing songs because you're depressed and you need to communicate it somehow, that isn't really true for me. Andrew Bird writing song ideas What you see at the Field Museum is only like, 10 percent of the collection. It's birds of paradise and passenger pigeons and in all these drawers that pull out, these specimens come out and it's spectacular. And it worked out. Andrew Bird paradise bird museums Correlation across replicated environments adds a whole new dimension of complexity of the environment, ... You would expect most application groups to have the same set of policies. In reality, you have differences in policies. That reflects back to that whole process of manual storing in the environment. Andrew Bird groups differences reality I didn't have the patience for the research, or anything like that. I just like how it sets the imagination off. It's just an area that's very fertile for great words. Great metaphors, potentially. Andrew Bird metaphor research imagination Sometimes the word dictated the melody. Andrew Bird melody sometimes Pretty much any given day, barring some major distraction, I get melodies coming to me. Lyrics don't come quite as easily. So I've been inventing little projects and challenges to sort of kick my ass with the lyrics. Andrew Bird ass challenges littles I've always found that whatever you say about indie rock, it is the most inclusive genre or title for anything. It doesn't pin you down too much, like other labels would. It's just newer, it has less baggage. Andrew Bird indie-rock titles rocks I'm not a home-studio guy. I spend a lot of time working by myself developing songs, but I really need some other counterpart to help me pull it all together, because you go nuts working if I had to finish an entire project all within my own head. Andrew Bird nuts home song I've never approached classical music in a formal way, ever. I couldn't read very well. I'd have to play every piece and internalize it, almost as if I had written it myself. Andrew Bird pieces play way There's always a tension between wanting to write a really concise, instant gratification type song that gets under your skin the first time you hear it, and wanting to really stretch out. I think it's a healthy tension. Andrew Bird writing song thinking I really believe there's more honesty in one live show than there may be in my whole output. Andrew Bird honesty may believe I put a lot into my records, and I won't release anything I'm not totally thrilled with. Andrew Bird release records I don't like to disappear between records. I like to play shows while I'm making the record. Andrew Bird disappear records play I can't relate to the process of just disappearing and writing a record, all at the same time, followed by the sort of drudgery of going out on tour and trying to recreate the record, playing the same 12 songs every night. Andrew Bird writing song night Some of your best songs come from a desperate attempt to escape, so sitting in an airport for hours I can just start pulling out little fragments of songs from my head. A lot of times a melody will just occur to me and be my companion for a couple of months. Andrew Bird airports couple song I think any songwriter or record, no matter how good it is, can become tedious if it's the same person's point of view. After four tracks, you start to get worn down no matter how good it is. It can be relentlessly good, but it's still going to wear you out. Andrew Bird track views thinking What's cool about indie rock is that one band can do effectively the same thing as another band, and one band nails it, and the other one doesn't. I like that elusiveness. Andrew Bird indie-rock nails rocks