Singer-songwriter Andrew Bird may only be 37 years old, but he's already found his way into a museum.
One of the Chicago native's compositions is the centerpiece of a dazzling soundscape that accompanies the Field Museum's "Mammoths and Mastodons" exhibition.
The song "You Woke Me Up!" originally appeared on Bird's album Useless Creatures, a second bonus disc that came along with the deluxe edition of his 2009 album Noble Beast. Like so many of his compositions, it's an elaborate, delicate work bouncing with plucked and bowed strings.
(Click here to listen to the track, and learn more about the exhibit.)
But the track has gone from a deep cut on an unreleased disc to the halls of one of Chicago's biggest tourist attractions, thanks to sound artist Michael W. Burns.
Burns developed the concept for the "Mammoths and Mastodons" soundscape. He placed the Bird piece at the center of the experience, and commissioned five more works from composer Stephen Wilke, based on "You Woke Me Up!" The six interconnected compositions are meant to evoke for the visitor the sense of being in the presence of the Ice Age giants on display.
See for yourself, any time between now and September 6th, 2010. Tickets for the exhibition are available online for $22, which also includes general admission. Lyuba, a 42,000-year-old baby wooly mammoth and the most complete specimen of her species ever discovered, is on display, as are saber-toothed cats, mammoth tusks, and the enormous mastodon. And a certain rare specimen of Bird.