Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire

The Swimming Hour

An introduction to Andrew (and his last record with his Bowl of Fire band) for much of a generation, it still remains one of his most eclectic works. He possesses a calm, sophisticated, and mature cool that exceeds his years. These songs often sound like they were written in an entirely different generation where boys and girls would awkwardly stare at each other across the room at a sock hop function waiting for someone to work up the courage for a dance. A nearly flawless opening run and only ... read more

The Beatles' influence is very clear to me in this album. It does a lot of very cool things with the guitar work by incorporating some blues themes to the chamber pop style. The changing of influences in this album keep it fresh from the first song to the last.