Ahead of his performance on A Prairie Home Companion this weekend with Paul Simon, Andrew Bird stopped by The Current to chat with host Brian Oake about his just-announced album Are You Serious, out April 1 via Loma Vista.

Are You Serious is Bird's 13th studio album and follow-up to last year's Echolocations: Canyon. Performing on the record with Bird are Blake Mills on guitar, Ted Poor on drums and Alan Hampton on bass, with one song featuring Fiona Apple.

Bird revealed that it was an interesting search to find and "cast" Apple. "We really needed someone without sweetness in their voice, like really indicting and calling me on it," says Bird. "I'm really proud of that duet."

"Capsized," the first single off Are You Serious (listen below), is a song that Bird has performed in different forms over the past 15 years, though he's never recorded it for album before Are You Serious. The deluxe version of the album comes with a 10" that features six vastly different versions of the song from over the years.

Andrew Bird will tour the States in support of Are You Serious this spring including an April 19 show at First Avenue.

Are You Serious

1. "Capsized
2. "Roma Fade"
3. "Truth Lies Low"
4. "Puma"
5. "Chemical Switches"
6. "Left Handed Kisses"
7. "Are You Serious"
8. "Saints Preservus"
9. "The New Saint Jude"
10. "Valleys of the Young"
11. "Bellevue"
12. "Shoulder Mountain" *
13. "Pulaski" *

* deluxe edition only

Are We Not Burning? The Devolution of Capsized

1. "Trimmed and Burning"
2. "Venetian Bedmaker"
3. "Dying Beds"
4. "Jackson Bedmaker"
5. "Capsized" (Sound City Version)

Related

• Andrew Bird performs in The Current studio
• Theft of the Dial: Andrew Bird
• Andrew Bird performs in The Current studios
• Andrew Bird, official site