Biography

An experimental indie folkie who later added electronic pop to his repertoire, Bobby Birdman is the alter ego of singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Rob Kieswetter. Originally from the Portland, OR area, Kieswetter began playing in the late ’90s with his first band Badical Turbo Radness, who released their first and only album To the Rescue in 1997. By the following year, the group had broken up and Kieswetter adopted the Bobby Birdman moniker, which was given to him by Little Wings' Kyle Field. Kieswetter’s early Bobby Birdman work was intimate and largely acoustic, as on his 2001 Hush Records debut, Let Me In; in 2002, Exhausted (The Cost Of), a collection of a cappella songs that he recorded while riding his bicycle through Portland, pared his music down even further. However, his second proper album, 2003’s Born Free Forever. had a much more lavish sound, incorporating electronic touches and choral passages along with more expected indie rock sounds. That year, Birdman moved to Los Angeles and took his music in an even more electronic direction on the States Rights-released synth pop homage Heart Caves EP, and 2005’s limited-edition Giraffes & Jackals EP, which also featured YACHT’s Jonah Bechtolt. He became involved in L.A.’s art, music and fashion scenes, appearing on YACHT’s I Believe In You, Your Magic Is Real and modeling for Band of Outsiders' 2008 fall fashion line. During that time, he remixed Young MC’s “Fastest Rhyme” for a collection celebrating Delicious Vinyl's 20th anniversary and worked on his third album, New Moods, which arrived in fall 2009. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi