Jessica just gave us Andrew Bird’s Progress Report. Before that, we spotted he and Yo-Yo Ma smiling and whistling at each other and heard a bunch of new Bird songs. Andrew’s clearly not ashamed to go step beyond Armchair Apocrypha. In fact, he just performed a previously unreleased song in Nigel Godrich’s basement. It’s a lengthy, thoughtful track called “Sectionate City” that involves plucking and whistling, because that’s how Andrew got his name. Go Bird watching (via You Ain’t No Picasso). It seems new, but it’s not on Noble Beast (1/27 via Fat Possum). Maybe a B-side? It’s from the Soldier On EP. Perhaps he’ll play it on this upcoming tour:

11/20 – London, England @ St Giles-in-the-Fields
11/21 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Church de Duif
01/28 – New York, NY @ Carnegie Hall #
01/30 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre %
02/03 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club %
02/04 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse %
02/06 – Orlando, FL @ The Plaza Theatre %
02/07 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues %
02/12 – Austin, TX @ Paramount Theater %
02/13 – Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey %
02/14 – Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theater %
02/18 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre %
02/19 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore %
02/20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore %
02/21 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater %
02/23 – Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theater %
02/24 – Boise, ID @ The Knitting Factory %
02/25 – Murray, UT @ The Murray Theater %
02/26 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater %
02/27 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown %

# w/ Dosh
% w/ Loney, Dear