Andrew Bird – Noble Beast

Album Reviews • Tuesday January 20th, 2009 • 12:56 pm

With all the hype surrounding Merriweather Post Pavilion, it seems as if anything released between now and the end of January would have to carry a pretty big stick to make any sort of blip on the musical radar. Realistically speaking, it’s doubtful that such an album exists, but in the instance that it does it’s unfortunately not Andrew Bird’s latest effort, Noble Beast. That’s not to say Noble Beast is bad. In fact, it’s far from it. It’s just that it’s more of what we’ve come to expect from Bird between his previous two efforts, 2005’s The Mysterious Production of Eggs and 2007’s Armchair Apocrypha, and simply an extension of where he had left off. He basically became comfortable in his current musical shoes with The Mysterious Production of Eggs, broke them in a little further with Armchair Apocrypha, and now continues to put holes in his kicks with Noble Beast. It may go without saying, but if his previous two were where it’s at with you, then it’s hard to believe that Noble Beast could possibly disappoint.

Noble Beast begins with its first single, “Oh No.” As far as some of Bird’s other more namesake songs are concerned, this one is a bit tamer in comparison. It’s got sort of an airy feel and carries a lot less energy than say “Fake Palindromes” or most other songs he’s better known for. “Oh No” is a pop tune at its core and can easily be classified as radio friendly, so it serves its purpose as an accessible taste. However, Noble Beast has better to offer and is more of a back loaded album in terms of quality of song.

At number 10 of 14, “Anonamal” is the most ear enticing track that Noble Beast has to offer. It ranks up there with “Plasticities” in terms of the most blatantly complex music Bird has ever written between all of its intricate, layered details from rapidly plucked string instruments. Bird has already established himself as a master multi-instrumentalist, but it seems as if he needs to remind his audience of that every now and then in song. There’s no denying he’s got the chops to flaunt and he doesn’t just walk the walk. “Anonamal” has violins and guitars going round after round in a boxing match with equal parts bobbing and weaving. There’s certainly a lot going on at once, but not quite enough to tie your ear drums into knotw. Following “Anonamal” at number 11 of 14, “Natural Disaster” comes in at a close second. This song has a more traditional folk feel to it with an acoustic guitar finger picking progression that’s second to none.

While this album works, Bird might need to consider taking a step in a new artistic direction with what’s to follow in order to not run the risk of putting out a sound that’s become stale. If history repeats itself, a Bird transformation may be sooner in the works than we suspect. Remember that in the not too distant past he was a member of the Squirrel Nut Zippers and between that and what’s he’s doing now there was also Bowl of Fire.