Noble Beast

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ALBUM INFORMATION
EXCLUSIVE // EDITOR'S PICK

Total Tracks: 15   Total Length: 61:02

eMusic Review

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Amanda Petrusich

eMusic Contributor

01.20.09
Bird perfects his fluttery, odd folk-pop formula
Label: Fat Possum Records

Noble Beast, Andrew Bird's eighth studio LP, is not an entirely unfamiliar jaunt: it boasts rich, textured (and, in this case, mostly acoustic) arrangements, whistling, strings, loops of sound, rhythms by the percussionist Martin Dosh and precisely metered lyrics that sound as if they were plucked from a botany textbook. Recorded in Nashville with the producer Mark Nevers (who first partnered with Bird for 2003's Weather Systems), Noble Beast is Bird perfecting a formula — fluttery, odd folk-pop that soars and twitches like a bumblebee intent on fresh pollen.

Still, even though Bird's melodies are easy and warm, there's an underlying tension to Noble Beast's finest tracks ("Oh no," "Effigy") that keeps the record from feeling too facile. Bird's taut, almost persnickety arrangements rely on delicacy and cohesion, each bit slotted into the next like a mansion crafted from Lincoln logs (Bird, never short on self-awareness, even dubbed one track "Tenuousness"). On "Anoanimal," violin (both plucked and played) swirls around Bird's muddled vocals, which feel almost pre-linguistic — as always, Bird is more concerned with the sound of his language than its meaning, and Noble Beast is, above all, a sound collage of impressive proportions. And, as with any good puzzle,… read more »

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Better & better

flyertravler

This album keeps growing on me as time goes on. Great vocals. Love it.

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Love the Videos

kunzheinz57

Now I'm watching the videos Great job Emusic!!

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My new favorite

millionmaker1

This album is one that I listen to daily...and I've had it for over a month. LOVE it.

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One of my favs of 2009.

dcwizard

A solid consistent beautiful work.

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delicate, heavy

Symphonic

I have a hard time with this; the music is of tremendous quality, and I commend Mr. Bird for his courage in exploring what feels like a difficult emotional space, but that is itself the issue, the album as a whole has a thin gamut, a thorough exploration of a melancholy/searching/reclusive feeling, it can be too much to listen to in one sitting.

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Layered for your pleasure

EMUSIC-00221F50

The music whistles through the clutter of music today, it has a place among those that move to the Talking heads vibe...

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Thank you for originality.

justincarlson11

This, along with his previous work, is worth the time. Andrew Bird presents an original take on songcraft, rewarding the listener with careful and quirky arrangements of reckless beauty. This guy is the real deal. And catch a live show if you get the chance.

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Can't Stay for Long

tide.is.level

The musical prowess of this guy cannot be denied; his compositions are bordered, controlled and deliberate. This album is beautiful. These songs are like different rooms in an opulently decorated castle. But with ornamentation comes some clutter. One could find themselves tripping over the stuff he leaves lying about (deliberately).

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Kind

charlie4feet

of like this. But it's the kind of thing where if you saw this guy out, you might want to punch him. I can listen to it, but I don't know if I could be civil to its creator. And I would want to be nice to him, just like I want to really like this album because so much of it is catchy, but alas....I might still have to punch him

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Its good, but hard to grasp.

paultaylor_2009

Noble Beast certainly lacks the accessibility and flashy hit tracks of his earlier releases like "Armchair Apocrypha" and "Mysterious Production of Eggs", however once you give it many revisits and about three months of on and off listens it begins to make itself domestic, familiar. And, of course, its not completely without a "single" to hang its hat on (See "Fitz and the Dizzyspells" - a claphappy aggressive pop song that will have you spinning), but overall it takes time for the beauty in tracks like "Effigy" and "Anoanimal" to reveal themselves. Is it worth it? Sure.

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eMusic Features

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Released in 2007, Armchair Apocrypha proved that hyper-literate singer/songwriter, genre-bending violin player, and peerless whistler Andrew Bird had found the perfect middle ground between his increasingly austere solo sets and the full-band grandeur of his days with the Bowl of Fire, a strategy he repeats with similar results on Noble Beast, his fifth full-length solo offering and second collection for the Mississippi-based Fat Possum label. Bird, a classically trained violinist since the age of four, has skillfully integrated nearly everything with strings on it into his repertoire since his conversion from the Weill and Brecht-heavy days of Music of Hair, Thrills, and Oh! The Grandeur to the semi-mainstream indie pop of The Swimming Hour, but it’s his seemingly limitless capacity for manipulation of the violin that dominates Noble Beast. Opening cut “Oh No,” a track that Bird began releasing sketches of months before the album’s street date, may be his most successful foray into the murky world of the potentially commercial pop song yet, boasting a chorus that points directly at the Shins while maintaining the artistic integrity of the loop-happy, meticulous craftsman who fans have been watching evolve since 2003′s Weather Systems. What follows is a typically eclectic batch of material that reflect Bird’s own musical time line. Tracks like “Masterswarm” and “Not a Robot, But a Ghost” are proof positive that he hasn’t completely abandoned his swing jazz roots, “Fitz and the Dizzyspells” could very well provide audiences with their first opportunity to “bust a move” at a show, while “Nomenclature”‘s easy country-folk front half dissolves into a rear end that wouldn’t seem out of place on a late-’90s Radiohead album. Throughout it all Bird rhymes — sometimes to a fault — like a history or biology professor (“From proto-Sanskrit Minoans to porto-centric Lisboans”), rendering many of the songs clever as opposed to emotionally resonant, but whatever romance he lacks in the textual medium he more than makes up for in melody. [The deluxe version of the album includes an impressive bonus disc of instrumental works, cleverly titled Useless Creatures, which features collaborations with Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche and jazz bassist Todd Sickafoose.] – James Christopher Monger

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Activity

  • 02.03.12 On 3.14 @nprmusic kicks off SXSW at Stubbs w/ Andrew Bird, Alabama Shakes, Dan Deacon, & Sharon Van Etten. http://t.co/FOkmcOi0
  • 01.31.12 In case you missed it, here is Andrew's full 'A Room For London' performance atop Queen Elizabeth Hall: http://t.co/R7Y8Pnf8
  • 01.27.12 Head over to The Guardian for an interview about the A Room For London show. Tune in on Saturday at 2 pm GMT, 9 am EST! http://t.co/djta6ra2
  • 01.26.12 Andrew will play a live performance on Saturday inside the riverboat that sits atop Queen Elizabeth Hall in London! http://t.co/E0sdMQXu
  • 01.24.12 You can also pre-order Break It Yourself digitally: http://t.co/viYMQD7b #breakityourself
  • 01.24.12 Break It Yourself special edition box set (limit to 1,000). Comes w/ immediate download of 'Eyeoneye'. http://t.co/wU5D8rtr #breakityourself
  • 01.23.12 Ever wish you could see Andrew perform live from a boat stranded on top of a museum? 'A Room For London' - Jan 28th: http://t.co/IBRueZCT
  • 01.23.12 Eyeoneye: http://t.co/t9F6XjJJ
  • 01.23.12 Chicago - tune into WXRT at 9:05AM to hear the brand new track 'Eyeoneye'
  • 01.20.12 "Eyeoneye" coming next week... http://t.co/ZP48m8gA
  • 01.10.12 Andrew will play Coachella April 14 & 21. Check out http://t.co/NhfUDd82 for the full lineup. See you there!
  • 01.10.12 Check out the Break It Yourself album art, track list, and new album teaser at Paste! http://t.co/qBLSgQZN
  • 12.15.11 Andrew is performing at the No Direction Home Festival (June 8-10) in Nottinghamshire, England! Tickets & information: http://t.co/S3SokKcV
  • 12.09.11 Go to http://t.co/jEacHbpL for a free download of Tables and Chairs from the live EP & to purchase tickets to the 2012 tour!
  • 12.09.11 Tickets for the 2012 tour are now on sale! To celebrate, stream Tables & Chairs from the live EP you get with purchase: http://t.co/nVMw5YOc
  • 12.06.11 'Break It Yourself', out March 6th (March 5th Europe). http://t.co/QP2WmOJF #breakityourself
  • 12.06.11 New album Break It Yourself, US tour announced. Every ticket comes with music. Check http://t.co/jEacHbpL for details and a live track.
  • 12.05.11 Check http://t.co/7YRhZOmz tomorrow for some big news.
  • 11.11.11 In honor of today's date... http://t.co/GIgf5Kgd
  • 11.11.11 The first of the European tour dates are on sale! Purchase tickets here: http://t.co/PkJBNRyJ Keep your eyes peeled for more dates to come!