Andrew Bird - Noble Beast reviews
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| http://tinymixtapes.com/Andrew-Bird,7858 |
 Although he’s written appealing, tasteful music for quite some time, only recently has Andrew Bird attracted the attention of the striving-for-relevance adult contemporary crowd. I was perusing the shelves at a Barnes and Noble a few months ago and heard 2006’s Armchair Apocrypha in its entirety. On at least two occasions, I’ve heard “Scythian Empire” playing at Starbucks. The singer and multi-instrumentalist’s music is hardly simple, but it is most often superficially placid. His latest effort, Noble Beast, is no exception. From the bucolic photograph adorning the cover to his groomed, incredibly appealing voice, Andrew Bird’s music is pleasant and ostensibly innocuous.
Bird’s ingenious wordplay here rivals even that of verbose contemporaries Will Sheff, Dan Bejar, and Colin Meloy. With only casual listening, the man’s convoluted lines can seem nonsensical. He muses about microscopic organisms, ancient civilizations, and philosophy, but manages to make each lofty topic seem personal and even relatable. Beneath the clever alliteration and scientific jargon of “Masterswarm,” we have a song about the concerns and wonder of growing up. However dense these labyrinthine lines are (from “Tenuous” — “Tenuous at best was all he had to say when pressed about the rest of it — the world that is/ from proto-Sanskrit Minoans to porto-centric Lisboans Greek Cypriots and harbor sorts who hang around in ports a lot, uh-huh”), the singer delivers them effortlessly. It doesn’t even appear that Bird is flaunting his diction and dexterous articulators; the quick salvos sound natural and charming....full text |
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| Rollingstones |
| Andrew Bird is a violin virtuoso steeped in early jazz and Celtic folk who announced himself as a top-shelf singer-songwriter with 2007's Armchair Apocrypha. Here, he takes another leap, fusing Armchair's emotive indie rock with the chamber-music experimentalism of his early recordings. "Masterswarm" mixes swirling strings with flamenco hand claps; "Effigy" stirs country fiddling and vocal harmonies into a gorgeous spaghetti-Western theme. But it's Bird's impressionistic lyrics that carry the emotional payload. "Nomenclature" is a sweet ballad that explodes unexpectedly. And on "Oh No," he pledges solidarity with "harmless sociopaths" alongside his trademark whistling, making dysfunction sound as romantic as roses....full text |
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| Spin |
Over the course of his five solo albums, Andrew Bird's music has become a custom- tailored suit: fussy and impossible for anyone else to wear. Just try to imagine anyone else singing about "proto-Sanskrit Minoans to porto-centric Lisboans / Greek Cypriots and Hobishots / Who hang around the ports a lot," as he does on "Tenuousness." Imagine anyone else wanting to.
Like many of Bird's songs, "Tenuousness" hangs more on atmosphere than melody. Whether it's the trembling opening track, "Oh No," or the pan-European folk of "Effigy," his instrumental palette is reliably idiosyncratic. But the trademark Andrew Bird sound -- violins, small percussive loops, isolated guitar -- doesn't create the same frothy electricity as it did on 2007's Armchair Apocrypha. Handclaps, shakers, and whistling generate Noble Beast's delicate warmth....full text |
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