Singer/songwriter Andrew Bird [ tickets ] will follow his current tour, which winds down next week, with a late-year run of solo shows, including several in intimate venues that will feature Bird concentrating mainly on violin pieces.

Bird, who continues his current trek Oct. 24 in Portland, ME, will devote five December shows--Dec. 10-11 in Minneapolis and Dec. 15-17 in Chicago--to a concept called "Gezelligheid," a Dutch term that translates loosely to "coziness," the performer said in a press release.

"What I hope to do with these shows is adapt my music completely to the atmosphere of the space and the season," Bird said in the statement. "I'm inspired to do this based on childhood memories of performing Handel's Messiah in various churches on an annual basis.

"The music will be mostly original instrumentals using my voice only to intone. I want the audience to be both lifted and comforted as we head into another cold and dark winter. I feel the space should be sacred so the audience can experience my music in a different atmosphere."

The Chicago-based performer unveiled "Noble Beast," his fifth solo studio effort, in late January. The album peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart and sold more 25,000 copies its first week out, more than double what his previous record, "Armchair Apocrypha," did upon its 2007 debut.

"It was recorded completely differently than I usually record," Bird said of "Noble Beast" earlier this year during an interview with New York radio station WNEW. "There is a lot more finger style, acoustic guitar, delicate textures, more like [Bird's 2003 release] 'Weather Systems.' I recorded it all with two acoustic guitars and vocals, and tried to make it better from there. It's something very, very simple."