All Points West Festival preview

Andrew Bird

When did "precious" become a dirty word? Andrew Bird embodies that term in only its most positive sense, packing his albums with sublime compositions that sparkle and gleam like tiny gems. Bird has been releasing albums for years now, some with his eponymous Bowl of Fire, but his wonderful third solo album, "Armchair Apocryphya," is arguably his best yet, haunting and joyful at the same time. Live, the classically trained Chicago violinist/guitarist/glockenspielist/vocalist makes copious use of loop pedals, generating layers of sound that can be quite different from the songs that appear on record. Friday, August 8.