''Are You Serious'' is the tenth solo studio album by

Andrew Bird Andrew Wegman Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American indie rock multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Since 1996, he has released 16 studio albums, as well as several live albums and EPs, spanning various genres including swing music ...

, released on April 1, 2016.Zoe Camp
Andrew Bird Announces New Album Are You Serious Featuring Fiona Apple, Shares "Capsized"
''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'', 5 February 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016. The album features collaborations with Fiona Apple and

Blake Mills Blake Mills (born September 21, 1986) is an American songwriter, guitarist, producer, and composer based in California. Biography Blake Mills was born in Santa Monica, California, United States, and grew up in Malibu, where he attended Malibu ...

Production

In an interview with

Bob Boilen Bob B Boilen (b. April 10, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York City) is an American musician and media personality. He is the host and creator of NPR's online music show ''All Songs Considered'' and NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts series. In 1979 Bob Boilen p ...

on ''

All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online multimedia program started in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' director Bob Boilen. At first, the show featured information and streaming audio about the songs used as bumper music on ...

'', Bird described how getting married had changed his writing style on this album:

Knowing that you're going to be with someone for a long time definitely changes he way you write often because you're sitting in the same room with them as you're writing, and when you're sitting on the couch and you know it's not going to last, you might ... have to ... encrypt ... things. And when you don't have to do that anymore it might change your writing in that sense.
Bob Boilen Bob B Boilen (b. April 10, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York City) is an American musician and media personality. He is the host and creator of NPR's online music show ''All Songs Considered'' and NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts series. In 1979 Bob Boilen p ...
(2016
"All Songs +1: Andrew Bird Gets Personal"
''
All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online multimedia program started in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' director Bob Boilen. At first, the show featured information and streaming audio about the songs used as bumper music on ...
''. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016

Fiona Apple was his first choice to appear on the single "Left Handed Kisses", and he contacted her through mutual friends.Erin Lyndal Martin (2016
"Andrew Bird gets confessional, at last: 'I really wanted to make a less whimsical, more visceral, grab-you-in-the-gut kind of record'"
''Salon'', 2 April 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016."Andrew Bird Talks Collaborating With Fiona Apple And New Album ‘Are You Serious’"
''

Music Feeds ''Music Feeds'' is a free bi-weekly digital music and lifestyle magazine ( street press) established in 2008 and based in Sydney, Australia. It is distributed electronically every second Tuesday, with additional material posted on the website ...

'', 31 March 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016. The track's recording session was, according to Bird, "a long

whiskey Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden ...

-fueled night."Matthew Strauss (2016
"Andrew Bird and Fiona Apple Join for "Left Handed Kisses""
''

'', 26 February 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.

Release

''Are You Serious'' was announced on February 5, 2016, following an appearance on '' Conan'' in which Bird performed the single "Capsized." A deluxe box set of the album will also include a 10" record called ''Are We Not Burning? The Devolution of Capsized 10"'', which features five additional tracks. The music video for the single "Left Handed Kisses", directed by Phil Andelman, was released on March 14, 2016, and features Bird and Apple sitting by a window and singing to each other.

Reception

''Are You Serious'' received generally favourable reviews from music critics, with a score of 78 out of 100 on the review aggregator website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

described ''Are You Serious'' as Bird's most personal album to date, writing that "Andrew Bird's lyrics are often a kind of cryptic code, wordplay about the human condition, but on ''Are You Serious'' he reveals more about his own life including a blossoming relationship between two relative introverts and the birth of their son."

's Stephen Thompson wrote that, with this album, Bird's songwriting "keeps sounding warmer, sweeter, more thoughtful and approachable, while continuing to land lines that stick with you for days."Stephen Thompso
"First Listen: Andrew Bird, 'Are You Serious'"
NPR Music, 24 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016. Philip Cosores, writing for

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

, gave the album a lukewarm review, describing it as a slight effort on which Bird "takes no musical risks." ''Are You Serious'' was nominated for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, for engineers

Tchad Blake Tchad Blake (born 1955) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixer and musician. A native of Baytown, Texas, he has worked with numerous artists and musicians, including Al Green, American Music Club, Ani DiFranco, Apartment 26, Arc ...

and David Boucher, and mastering engineer Bob Ludwig.

Accolades

Track listing

''Are You Serious''

All songs written by Andrew Bird except "Are You Serious," written by Andrew Bird and Dan WilsonAlbum liner notes

''Are We Not Burning? The Devolution of Capsized''

Personnel

*Andrew Bird - vocals (1-11), violins (1-4, 6-11), whistling (2, 5, 8), guitar (3, 4, 6, 8, 10), omnichord (9) *

- guitar (1-11), pedal steel guitar (1), drums (2), mandolin (4), tiple (9), electric banjo (10) *Ted Poor - drums (1-4, 6-11), percussion (1, 2, 4, 8), vibes (6), tubular bells (6) *Alan Hampton - bass (1-4, 6-11), guitar (2, 4) *

Patrick Warren Patrick Warren (born March 26, 1957) is an American musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for his work on the films ''Magnolia'', ''Fifty Shades of Grey'', '' Boogie Nights'' and ''Red State'', as well as the television series ' ...

- keyboards (1, 2, 4, 7) *

Moses Sumney Moses Sumney is a Ghanaian-American singer-songwriter. His self-recorded EP, ''Mid-City Island'', was released in 2014. He released another five-song EP in 2016, titled ''Lamentations''. His first full-length album, ''Aromanticism'', was released ...

- vocals (1, 3) *Bram Inscore - keyboards (2, 4, 9, 10) * Fiona Apple - vocals (6) *

Tony Berg Anthony Rains "Tony" Berg (born October 21, 1954) is an American musician, record producer, and A&R representative, in which role he has been described as an "industry guru". Berg's music career began in the late 1970s as a session guitarist wh ...

Production

Release

Reception

Accolades

Track listing

''Are You Serious''

''Are We Not Burning? The Devolution of Capsized''

Personnel

Charts

Album

Singles

References