Andrew Bird’s latest outing, Noble Beast, hits stores tomorrow.  Somehow, my copy was shipped to me two weeks early.  I got the deluxe edition that also includes the extra disc of b-sides and instrumentals, Useless Creatures.  The two discs feature vastly different sides of The Bird, but both have their charms.  Noble Beast itself is a fascinating collection of some new sounds as well as some old, but significantly different than his last outing, Armchair Apocrypha.

Noble Beast

The album opens up with Oh No, a catchy little tune, but far softer than Fiery Crash was on Armchair, setting the stage for one of The Bird’s folksier albums in recent years.  Yet, it still captures the witty and creative lyrics he always has had a knack for.  Masterswarm is filled with beautiful guitar pickings and sweet violin strokes following a catchy clap beat, and of course, a good dose of whistling.  Fitz & Dizzyspells feels a lot like an Armchair track with its flaring guitars and good rock vibe.

Effigy is probably one of the most interesting tunes on the album as he opens up with a layered violin melody and then transitions into a acoustic tune that really reminded me of an Irish or Appalachian folk song.  Tenousness continues a similar sort of sound through to Nomenclature, where he opens up with some stronger electric riffs.

Not a Robot, But a Ghost first starts off sounding somewhat like a Radiohead song.  However, it quickly diverges into a more instrumental track while still retaining that very scratchy beat.  The lyrics are really great and it’s probably my favorite track on the album.  Unfolding Fans has a cool Asian flair to it and serves as a nice bridge into Anonanimal.  This was probably the first song off the album that I heard at a concert and it’s definitely evolved but still a great track with its picked and soaring violins in the background.

Natural disaster reminds me a lot of the tunes on his first solo album, Music of Hair.  It’s another one of those pretty folksy tunes and definitely more memorable than the following track, The Privateers.  This one just falls flat for me and I can’t put my finger on it.

The album closes with Souverian, a long but pretty nice tune, giving a strong close to a strong album, followed up by the instrumental On Ho!

Overall, I really enjoyed the album and it feels very cohesive in its sound.  At the same time, it seems like a little too much of the same sound, but this may well be as much a product of its production and how it was mixed than the tracks themselves as there is some great variety in there.  I would recommend picking this up.

7/10

Here’s the really fantastic art the deluxe version comes with…scroll down for the Useless Creatures review!

Useless Creatures

This special collection of all new instrumentals comes only with the deluxe edition, but if you’re a big Andrew Bird fan like me, I recommend picking it up too!  It opens with Master Sigh, a tune mostly made with hums, whistles, and violin that gives a feeling of sitting in a field on a summer evening.  You Woke Me Up! is a fantastic piece of violin work that harkens back to Weather Systems.  Nyatiti is a fun instrumental stomp with flaring violin plucks and tambourines.  The Barn Tapes is a trip into 10 minutes of waves of sound and drones, primarily of violin, that are nice to let wash over you, but not interesting enough to hold my attention when I’m not in the mood.

Following up The Barn Tapes is the equally long, but much more interesting Carrion Suite.  It’s a slow and swaying tune with sass that has a beat to keep the swaying violins in check.  Spinney is a short, feedback filled guitar piece that somewhat moves in waves similar to The Barn Tapes, but as soon as it starts, it’s over.

Dissent is another one of his tracks that sounds similar to things we’ve heard before, but its dischordant wails of violins really don’t catch my interest very much.  Hot Math reminds me of a lot of Armchair era guitar tunes, with The Bird experimenting with cycles of guitar riffs and improvising in between.

Finally, he closes with Sigh Master, the follow up to Master Sigh.  It again takes a very natural tone and he adds whistles for birds and other creatures, giving a more foresty and morning sound.  I would definitely say this collection of instrumental tunes took me by surprise in terms of their variety and great sounds.  I think this is a must have for any Andrew Bird fans and highly recommend it if you can plunk down the cash for the Deluxe edition!

Non-Fans: 5/10

Fans: 8/10