Andrew Bird belies the seemingly sarcastic title of his new record, My Finest Work Yet, with a set of contemplative songs that take a look at the current political and emotional climate via “themes of current-day dichotomies and how to identify a moral compass amidst divisive times.” On the album-opening “Sisyphus,” the local songwriter declares, “I'd rather fail like a mortal than flail like a god/I'm a lightning rod/History forgets the moderates for those who sit recalcitrant and taciturn.” The musical settings range from the jazzy, space-cabaret piano idyll “Bloodless” and the aching ballad “Cracking Codes” to the full-band dramatics of “Olympians” and the elegant string-laden chamber pop of “Archipelago.” Amid the Biblical floods of “Proxy War,” Bird muses about love: “She don't have to get over him, with all their words preserved for evermore.”

The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.; Mon., June 3, 7 p.m. (213) 388-1400.

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