Chicago singer/songwriter/violinist Andrew Bird mixes and matches influences until the music is purely his own. Break It Yourself evokes memories of other classic singer/songwriters, but the album retains Bird's personal stamp of world music, jazz, folk, and pop balancing the art. "Danse Caribe" is redolent of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks (side two of Into the Music, to be exact), with a violin casting its spell around an elliptical chord progression and swaying rhythm. "Give It Away" lopes with a country influence in its harmonies and Eagles-"Tequila Sunrise" camaraderie. "Desperation Breeds . . ." quietly enters with a sense of Ryan Adams' quiet ballads until the lyrics reveal an interest in the ecosystem. "Lazy Projector" slows into the 3 a.m. of the soul, where Neil Young often parks, with a melody that sounds like a beautiful moment on a Freedy Johnston record. "Lusitania" has a gentle vocal that follows up on the loneliness of Harry Nilsson's performance of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'." "Orpheo Looks Back" throws together an animated pizzicato that breaks into a modest jig. "Sifters" aches with the wanderlust of Tim Buckley. - iTunes
