Music Box: Caldera Festival brings Andrew Bird, Sharon Van Etten

By Aaron Davis (for JHWeekly.com)Jackson Hole, Wyo. - Teton Artlab is bringing the hippest of art-meets-music weekends to our front door – the inaugural Caldera Festival. Friday evening will explore the relationship between cloth and landscape with a visual exhibition and runway show, “Terra: Textile,” topped off by a triple bill of indie singer-songwriter bands on Saturday.For its gorgeous swells, stunning vocal vibratos and singular approach to varied pop writing and nuanced arrangement, singer-songwriter/guitarist/violinist and whistler Andrew Bird has released one of the year’s finest albums to date, Break it Yourself. It’s his seventh studio release and finds Bird and his band gathered at his farm studio. Rather than the carefully crafted, one-layer-at-a-time puzzle that recording often turns into, the mellow album benefits from minimal tediousness and, in turn, more off-the-cuff musicianship.“When you write pop songs and you play every night this light turns on and you think, ‘Oh that worked last night, we’ll do that again tonight,’” Bird said. “I see this happen to a lot of indie bands that might be capable of more but they play it safe, and that lack of risk-taking affects the musicality of the set. It’s an antidote to the grind, which is inevitable … to keep things fresh and loose. To do this on an album is tricky. For [Break it Yourself], I just invited the band to the barn to make music all day long, crash in the barn, and see what happens. I did not expect to get an album out of it.”A Chicagoan, Bird’s career is not an easy one to wrap one’s head around. A classically trained violinist, his initial commercial exposure came through collaborative work with the Squirrel Nut Zippers, appearing on three of the band’s albums between 1996 and 1998. Bird took on the role of bandleader in 1997 as Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire, releasing Thrills, and then Grandeur.These albums have defined Bird’s deepest passions of pre-war jazz and swing, along with traditional folk and gypsy. But his career has progressed into avant-garde indie-folk and rock, with parts of his live show being carefully layered samples of sound constructed with the use of loop pedals.“The looping has become second nature, but it gets pretty hairy, though, as I sometimes signal to my drummer, Martin, who has his own mixer on stage,” Bird said. “I think I like being on the edge like that. It’s like I have a cooking show or something, like haphazardly throwing in one ingredient at the last minute. Nothing is too terribly choreographed; it’s pretty improvisatory and free flowing. And that takes the pressure off in some way.”Bird’s band consists of drummer Martin Dosh, guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker, and bassist Alan Hampton.According to Paste, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and a few others, Brooklyn singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten has also released one of the year’s finest albums, Tramp. Anchored by tortured lullabies and emotional angst, there’s plenty of personal tension in her music for those seeking a visceral experience.Teton Artlab’s Caldera Festival 2012 presents Andrew Bird with Sharon Van Etten and special guest Kelly Hogan, 6:30 p.m., Saturday, on the Center for the Arts’ lawn. ‘Terra: Textile’ begins at 6:30 p.m., Friday, in the Center Theater. Tickets for each event are $20 general admission or $75 VIP, available at Shades Café, Valley Bookstore, Teton Artlab, JHCenterForTheArts.org or 733-4900.