Andrew Bird and Phoebe Bridgers reimagine an Emily Dickinson poem in ‘I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain’. Bird appears in grainy black and white, looking tense and inquisitive in a slim-fitting suit. Microscopic scenes of cell division fill the screen as the elegiac track rolls forward. The ubiquitous Bridgers lends her breathy vocals, taking the lead at times and clinging in close harmony to Bird’s reedy tenor. Bird’s violin provides poignant punctuation at key moments.
“I came across this Emily Dickinson poem and found it to be the most vivid description of an inner world I’ve ever encountered,” says Andrew Bird. “It became an inspiration for the songs on Inside Problems. Who better to sing it with than Phoebe Bridgers? I sent her a demo and so, here we are. Thanks to Ms. Dickinson’s publisher at Harvard University Press for allowing us to use this poem. As I understand, her poems weren’t published as she intended them until the 1950s – that is, without the heavy hand of her male editors.”
Bird is scheduled to perform at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, on the 19th February 2023.
