Andrew Bird has shared his first new music of 2022 with "Atomized," a brand new single inspired by Joan Didion's 1967 observation that she "had dealt directly and flatly with the evidence of atomization, the proof that things fall apart."
"Didion was updating W.B. Yeats for the fractious '60s," Andrew Bird explained in a statement. "This song takes it to the pixelated present where it's not just society that is getting atomized but the self that is being broken apart and scattered."
"Atomized" was recorded live by Bird and his band — bassist Alan Hampton, drummer Abe Rounds and guitarist-producer Mike Viola — and comes attached to a Matthew Daniel Siskin-directed video that features Bird at the centre of a surreal world split between light and dark.
"Start making your apologies, blaming technology," he sings. "They're gonna try to get a rise to unseat you, they'll demagnetize your poles and you know they're gonna try to delete you…Here's what I say to them: things fall apart."
Bird's last album was These 13, a collaborative effort with Jimbo Mathus. His last solo album was 2019's My Finest Work Yet.
"Atomized" is a rambling, loose-limbed folk jaunt, and you can watch the video for it below.
"Didion was updating W.B. Yeats for the fractious '60s," Andrew Bird explained in a statement. "This song takes it to the pixelated present where it's not just society that is getting atomized but the self that is being broken apart and scattered."
"Atomized" was recorded live by Bird and his band — bassist Alan Hampton, drummer Abe Rounds and guitarist-producer Mike Viola — and comes attached to a Matthew Daniel Siskin-directed video that features Bird at the centre of a surreal world split between light and dark.
"Start making your apologies, blaming technology," he sings. "They're gonna try to get a rise to unseat you, they'll demagnetize your poles and you know they're gonna try to delete you…Here's what I say to them: things fall apart."
Bird's last album was These 13, a collaborative effort with Jimbo Mathus. His last solo album was 2019's My Finest Work Yet.
"Atomized" is a rambling, loose-limbed folk jaunt, and you can watch the video for it below.