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Apr 02, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Photography by Michael Schmelling Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird has shared a new song, “Capital Crimes,” via a video for the track. The song is about capital punishment. Also Bird was doing performances from his home before it was necessary and his previous web series Live From the Great Room is now on YouTube for all to enjoy. Half (14) of its 28 episodes are up there, with the rest coming soon. Check out the Matthew Daniel Siskin-directed “Capital Crimes” video below.

Bird had this to say about the new song in a press release: “I wrote Capital Crimes more than a year ago about capital punishment. For a while they were giving IQ tests to death row inmates. If you scored below 70 your life was spared, above 70 and you were executed. Of course this is absurd and was eventually done away with but the fact that it was in practice for even for a moment is alarming. Lately we find ourselves having these moral arguments, these false choice fallacies that older citizens should sacrifice themselves for the sake of the economy. The government exists to protect and care for its citizens especially those who are most vulnerable, not decide who should be sacrificed. I hope the song handles the issue more eloquently than my prose here. ‘If I let go of your hand it would be murder’—the things that hold our society together are not really institutions and laws but everyday humanity and compassion. An acceptance that we are all in this together. I thought this was a single-issue song until Matthew Siskin put this video together and made me realize that it’s far more universal than I thought.”

Bird released a new album, the amusingly titled My Finest Work Yet, back in 2019 via Loma Vista and last year was also cast in the upcoming new season of FX’s crime anthology show Fargo. Plus in November he surprise released HARK!, a new Christmas EP that features two original songs (“Alabaster” and “Night’s Falling”) and covers of four holiday classics.

Read our interview with Andrew Bird on My Finest Work Yet.

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