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With his new album, Are You Serious, Andrew Bird has widened the breadth of his art by directly reflecting his own human experience. With key contributions from Fiona Apple and Blake Mills, Are You Serious attains a level of expression that's a personal, evolutionary leap. "Here I am with my most unguarded, direct, relatable album to date," Bird says, "Go easy on me."

An up-tempo blitz addressing personal chemistry as a rearrangement of molecules, "Roma Fade" may be the album's centerpiece. Its sense of longing – "from the tips of your fingers, every strand of hair...you may not know me but you feel my stare" – is based in part on how Bird met his wife, or rather, the times he saw her before they met. "Roma Fade" and "Truth Lies Low" present both sides of the phenomenon of observing and being observed. The album's surprise revelation is "Left Handed Kisses," a duet with the singular Fiona Apple. With Bird playing the skeptic and Apple the romantic, the stop-start ballad portrays two lovers who are philosophically opposed but inevitably drawn together. It feels like it could be a lost Johnny Cash/June Carter classic.

"My favorite songs I write are the ones that change and adapt according to my mood," says Bird. Album- opener "Capsized" is a prime example, having been in his live repertoire for close to a decade under various titles and guises. In the album's recorded incarnation, "Capsized" is a propulsive gem evoking both the chamber-soul of Bill Withers and the backbeat of The Meters. Bird's vocals are driven onward by drummer Ted Poor and bassist Alan Hampton. The musically expansive nature of Are You Serious is due in part to ace ensemble players like Poor and Hampton, and the guitar playing of Blake Mills while album closer "Valleys of the Young" wonderfully encapsulates the album's themes.

“Andrew Bird could have been a one-trick pony. With looping violin and full-lunged whistling, the singer-songwriter has quirks that can be effortlessly labeled as quirks, signature moves that allow for cheap jokes and soft-elbowed jabs by people who failed to really connect with the guy’s music. But as he churned out records over the years, Bird proved himself to be a relentless musician, a lyricist full of forgotten dictionary words, a violinist full of life, a songwriter full of melodies ready to stamp themselves on your brain. The real challenge he faced was how to keep all of that fresh.” - Consequence of Sound

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