As I remarked in another post recently, I was hoping I would like Andrew Bird’s new album Noble Beast better than his last one, 2007’s Armchair Apochrypha. It’s a terrible shame that in spite of Bird’s unquestionable talents, I literally had to force myself to listen to that album. I found his violin-plucking irritating, and his whistling excellent but overused.
I do like this one much better. As is his style, the songs shift in movements that sometimes make it difficult for the listener to determine where a different track begins. But the overall impression is that this record is more relaxed, which allows the beauty of the music to come to the forefront. His whistling feels pleasing instead of overwhelming. His pizzicato is more integrated into the arrangements instead of being the key feature. Bird bows the violin more (”Souverian” and “On Ho” are notable but not isolated examples) with a darling fiddle texture on “Anonanimal,” and he even gets out his guitar on “Anonanimal” and “Tenuousness.” Listening to Apochrypha felt like a chore, but Noble Beast does not.
So why, after playing the album through once, did I immediately switch to the new Beirut EPs and play them four times through? I think it’s because in spite of the beauty, I don’t come away with any feeling from the songs. Maybe I’m dense (or maybe a lyric sheet would help–I did locate a lyric site; see link below), but the wandering structures and all those complicated juxtapositions of words don’t tell me what Bird is feeling or how I’m supposed to react to it.
I do like the dynamic swell of instruments in “Nomenclature” and the clickety-clackety rhythms and Radiohead-like treatment of “Not a Robot, But a Ghost,” which is maybe my favorite on the album probably because I do get an emotional connection out of “I crack the codes, you end the war.”
Andrew Bird: Nomenclature from Noble Beast (2009)
MySpace | Website | Label: Fat Possum Records | Lyrics for Noble Beast
Buy at Andrew Bird Shop, iTunes, and eMusic
Photo: Cameron Wittig
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This made me feel better.
Everyone else seems to rave about Andrew Bird, but I’ve always found his music extremely boring. As you said, he obviously has talent, but his music just seems to be lacking some kind of spark for me to enjoy listening to it.
February 6th, 2009 at 9:44 am
It’s the “thrill factor” ! Bird is extremely talented, but emotionally kind of detached. I do like “Not a Robot But a Ghost” a lot because, for one thing, it contains a lot of textures the others don’t, and for another, I can figure out what he’s saying and identify with it. I chose to post another song that I like because I avoid helping give away an artist’s entire album, and I know this one has been posted elsewhere. But I’m tucking “Robot” away for consideration for 2009 favorites.
February 6th, 2009 at 9:55 am
well, you know i’m one of those “ravers” about his music, but i have to say that i love this record more each time i listen to it. he goes to some very different places than we’re used to–”anoanimal” is one of my favorites for that reason.
i think there’s a longing, or a loneliness that suffuses his music. he’s never maudlin, he’s not feeling sorry for himself, but he senses that all is not as it could be and he’s trying to get there or he’s taking note of it and it pains him.
he’s certainly not very direct about it, tho, is he?
February 10th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
You just reminded me to put “Not a Robot” in the folder for Best of 2009 consideration. I think that one is as direct as he gets. I already have five songs in that folder, would you believe it? It’s never too early!
February 10th, 2009 at 4:11 pm