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Something new! With The Swimming Hour, Bowl of Fire mark an extreme departure from their old sound and take on a new sound creating the most eclectic record released by Andrew Bird. This album defines the word eclectic; there is elements of pop, swing, jazz, classical, folk, and rock. Bird has referred to this album as his “jukebox album”. He combines all these elements from the past century of music quite nicely to help develop his sound and style as his career progresses.

The Swimming Hour was released in 2001 by Rykodisc and is the last album Bird will release with the Bowl of Fire. Though it did not gain much commercial success at all (the band played some shows for less than forty people in the audience), the album was praised by critics.

The Swimming Hour opens with a pop song with backing vocals by Nora O’Connor. Two Way Action has a very poppy, catchy violin riff that leads the song. 11:11 is another pop song with some great harmony on vocals between Bird and O’Connor. This album is O’Connor’s first appearance with Bird and she will go on to tour with him later. Her soft vocals add some beautiful harmonies to his music.

The few rock songs are the best of the album. Fatal Flower Garden is a wonderful alt-rockish ballad that actually has an electric guitar solo! Satisfied comes out of nowhere. It is a loud blues-rock song that would fit in with a Doors album. It has organ and electric guitar licks with a killer violin solo as Bird shouts the lyrics “I’m all alone / at least I’m satisfied!” Why? adds another blues song to the album. It’s a sexy, laid back song with a nice violin hook. Bird humorously croons the lyrics “Damn you for being so easy-going.”

The Swimming Hour also contains some great folk tunes. Headsoak is the “unofficial title track for the album” and is a beautiful folk ballad with some more great harmonies between Bird and O’Connor. Bird also introduces his "professional whistling" in this track. Dear Old Greenland is another fun laid back folk song that features conversation like vocals between Bird and the backing vocals.

The Swimming Hour marks the new direction that Andrew Bird is moving. It is an extreme departure from past albums and is his first album with contemporary music. Because it is so eclectic and there is such a difference between each song stylistically, the album becomes somewhat hit-or-miss with each track. However, this would be a good starting point if one is looking to get into Bird.

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