Inside Problems

Andrew Bird’s Inside Problems burrows into Beethoven, the Velvet Underground, ’60s pop, and his own back catalog.

Working here with a four-piece band, these 11 songs - several expansive - are often sophisticated indie pop with a lot going on, musically and lyrically.

Working with a few key collaborators, the singer-songwriter delves into inner turmoil and late-night anxieties. But they play with a relaxed touch, creating a cozy, inviting atmosphere.

Inside Problems deals with weighty themes in a modest, manageable way, and that's one of its greatest virtues; here, Andrew Bird is a mildly quirky regular guy with some thoughts to share and a fiddle to help carry them across, and self-analysis is rarely as fun and rewarding as this.

This year certainly contains no shortage of “outside problems” to comment on and/or wring hands over, but there’s a certain relief that comes from hearing Andrew Bird stripped down to his essential elements.

Recorded live, Inside Problems is a rather less meticulous and more spirited band set that examines the questions that keep him awake at night.

Like a lot of Andrew Bird albums of late, Inside Problems needs some time to reveal itself. Its frustrations and lidless graspings at the world are part of the game here, so that it doesn’t nestle quickly into a box on first listen feels appropriate.

Prolific ‘renaissance man’ returns with a collection of deceptively intricate pieces that bely a darker underbelly.

Inside Problems is a decent collection to skim through on Spotify or your streaming platform of choice. As a collection proper, though? A solo LP? Andrew Bird’s done a lot better than this – and that’s a shadow that unfortunately looms large over the new material.