Noble Beast

Like all good folk-influenced music, Bird has crafted an album which places great importance on the lyrics. What is more unusual is that his tales veer towards the nonsensical, yet still compete for recognition with the rich musical backdrop.This is experimental folk-pop, if such a thing exists. It's possible that this genre could be the noble beast of which Bird speaks, as there is a certain dignity in his assonantic poetry and the way it mixes with his warm acoustics. However, there is equally a strong sense of beauty to compliment this figurative, noble beast. The violins embrace the often-plucked rhythms, the handclap-resembling percussion partners the touch of Morricone effortlessly, which drifts across `Masterswarm'.`Fitz & Dizzyspells' hints at The Shins and `Nonmenclature' confirms it. `Not A Robot, But A Ghost' even recalls a lo-fi Radiohead, circa  Amnesiac . These are complex tracks with distorted pop at their charming heart. They envelop the listener with comfortable warmth, but may be too comfortable, allowing the experience to bypass the indifferent listener unaffected. There could be a case for having trimmed a couple of weaker numbers to allow that which remained to be the more memorable, but nevertheless Bird's lush beast is still a beauty.

I recently discovered Andrew Bird and as a fan of such leftfield "indie" as Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Belle & Sebastian and Tindersticks this was right up my street. Noble Beast is leftfield in its unusual song structures (note the crescendo then sudden fade in Souverian) and in particular in Bird's brilliant violin playing which is present throughout. The clever wordplay stands out, my favourite example being at the start of Tenuousness: "From proto-Sanskrit Minoans to Porto-centric Lisboans, Greek Cypriots and harbor sorts who hang around in ports a lot". There is also Bird's whistling which seems to divide opinion, but for me works in the context of the songs.If I had to choose highlights, I might go for the catchy Fitz And The Dizzy Spells, the experimental Radiohead like sound of Not A Robot, But A Ghost or the simply beautiful The Privateers. However, that would be to ignore all the other brilliant tracks herein, which make choosing highlights seem somewhat churlish. Indeed I would be hard pressed to name another album completely devoid of weaker tracks. Put simply, this is one of the best albums I have heard. Ever.

Andrew Bird has produced another great album. More 'mainstream' i guess but is still on a par with th Mysterious Production Of Eggs and Armchair Apocrypha. Second disc is a nice little bonus too and ALSO you get a little poster in the CD sleave!

Love it! Thank you Andrew!

A favourite album. Not a good pressung unfortunaly one side was v poor.

It’s a great album (I know it well, hence wanting to buy the vinyl version of it), but the quality of these disks is horrible, they’re very warped and it actually detunes the music at regular intervals. Extremely disappointing...

Comparisons are odious, as someone famous once said, but sometimes they are revealing. After listening to Noble Beast twice, I stuck the ipod on shuffle. First Nirvana's Lithium came up, then Carmichael by Neil Young, then Powder Keg by the Fall, and listening to the three of them made me realize just what an enervating experience it had been listening to Andrew Bird's latest.I bought it on the strength of reviews that made it sound interesting. For me, the reviews proved more interesting than the music itself. The tunes are quite pretty and the violin playing is very good, but the songs in their entirety all fall short. They're sort of sweet in a Rilo Kiley/James Blunt sort of way. A bit limp. A bit vacuous. In short, unlike the three artists listed above, there is no passion. While Kurt Cobain is pleading with someone to 'throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back', Andrew bird is asking his listeners to 'soldier on'. And that's just how it felt listening to the entire album.And as for the whistling! I always have a problem when a song breaks into la-la-la-ing. It suggests the writer couldn't be bothered with the lyrics. Whistling is far worse. That was what stopped this being a 3-star review. Maybe it's intended as a joke - someone called Bird who whistles. Maybe not. Whatever, it's truly horrible.