Singer/songwriter and actor Andrew Bird has released brand new COVID-inspired Christmas tune called “Christmas in April.” The song serves as the lead single off the multi-talented artist’s new album HARK!, which will be released this Friday, October 30, via Loma Vista Recordings. The vinyl LP version of the album is set for release next month on November 20.
In essence, the song ponders the future and what our new normal will look like as it wonders “where we will be – physically, spiritually – when the holidays come around this year.” The track features dazzling arrangements of acoustic guitar riffs as Bird’s harmonious vocals and violin simmer throughout. Most impressively, Bird’s songwriting is able to achieve a sense of levity and hope despite its melancholy subject matter.
Bird wrote the song while in quarantine at his home in Los Angeles “during the pandemic’s most disorienting phase” this past spring. “There were those various stages of acceptance we all went through at first while our brains tried to process how disruptive COVID would be (remember when we thought it would be 2 weeks?),” recalls Bird. “By April I was looking ahead to the holidays and wondering if/when I’d see my folks, knowing that there were millions of people thinking the same thing. Those kinds of universally shared moments are rare in this fractured world.”
HARK! will feature other originals from the singer/songwriter including “Alabaster” and “Night’s Falling” as well as new takes on classics like Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “Christmas is Coming” and a John Prine cover. According to a press release, the LP release of HARK! will be a limited-edition red colored vinyl housed in a special gatefold jacket that includes perforated paper sheet inserts of 12 birds that fans can hang as ornaments. The vinyl edition is now available for pre-order online.
In recent years, Bird has also established an impressive career as an actor. He is currently starring as the breakout character Thurman Smutny in the most recent installment of FX’s acclaimed anthology series Fargo, opposite Chris Rock.
Photo credit: Alyssa Fried
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