The New York Times Magazine, has become, as of late, something of a repository for random indie-rock profiles. This last weekend's edition featured a lengthy write-up of violinist/indie-rock star/whistler Andrew Bird that talks at length about his career, his decision to start looping (basically, he had to), and his upcoming new album, Noble Beast.

Bird’s sound is not easy to categorize. His songs are swelling and orchestral, the legacy of years spent studying classical violin at Northwestern University’s prestigious conservatory and elsewhere. He has been compared with the Irish rock singer Damien Rice, but Bird’s sound is also distinctly American, part of a new wave of folk — free folk, psych folk or freak folk, as it has variously been called — that has grown in popularity in recent years. His songs have a pastoral, homespun feel, but they also have a darkness and emotional complexity not typically associated with folk rock.

 

Bird’s label, Fat Possum, is expecting “Noble Beast” to be his breakthrough album, to transform him from cult phenomenon to pop star. The CD won’t be released until Jan. 20, but an early and aggressive marketing push is already paying off in commitments from a few major retail chains, airtime on several influential rock radio stations and an offer to appear on “Late Show With David Letterman.”

The story delves pretty heavily into Bird's past, and the fact that he is slowly on the rise. To read the whole thing, go here.