Album: Andrew Bird, Hands of Glory (Mom + Pop)

Recorded in old-timey style, with voices and instruments gathered around a single microphone, Hands of Glory is a smaller, more intimate work than Andrew Bird's recent albums, with originals and covers delivered in mild bluegrass harmonies over understated rockabilly grooves.

Scraped violin and Chris Isaak-esque reverbed vocal lend an eerie flavour to The Handsome Family's "When That Helicopter Comes", but most evocative are the two versions of the funereal "Three White Horses" which bookend the album in ghostly shrouds.

Download: Three White Horses; Beyond the Valley of Three White Horses; When That Helicopter Comes