Andrew Bird covers John Cale's "Andalucia" for new album Hark!

Bird's cover of Cale's "Andalucia" follows on from his April standalone single "Capital Crimes".

His cover of "Andalucia" will appear on Hark!, Bird's forthcoming Christmas album that has the same title as his 2019 Christmas EP.

The album will span 13 tracks, and will feature his new COVID-inspired Christmas song "Christmas in April".

Bird says of the album, "Let’s not talk about the dubious motives that might lead an artist to make a holiday record. It’s a complicated relationship many of us have with the holidays and the requisite music we hear. So let’s admit that it’s a utilitarian thing. The music is just one contributing factor to our communal or solitary joy and melancholy. As a musician, it’s an excuse to take a break from writing the next record and indulge in an unapologetically nostalgic exercise. I’ve done my best to find some lesser known gems. A passing reference to wintertime sentiment is all it takes to make the cut on Hark! A mention of snow falling in John Cale’s "Andalucia", a namecheck of Christmas in John Prine’s "Souvenirs" or as the setting of the drunken fiasco in the Handsome Family’s "So Much Wine", remade as "Greenwine"."

He adds, "There’s an original tune I wrote in April during the most disorienting phase of the pandemic, when I couldn’t help but wonder where we’ll be when the holidays come, if we could be together or not. I’ve been writing a lot of songs inspired by this uninspiring predicament. Let's hope they all become obsolete as soon as possible."

Tracklist:

1. Andalucia
2. Alabaster
3. Greenwine
4. Christmas In April
5. Souvenirs
6. Oh Holy Night
7. Mille Cherubini in Coro
8. Night’s Falling
9. Glad
10. Christmas is Coming
11. White Christmas
12. Skating
13. Auld Lang Syne