Andrew Bird
Noble Beast
While certain bands (The Ramones, Nirvana) make young, aspiring artists believe they can grow up to be rock stars, Andrew Bird makes even professional musicians feel like they will never be good enough. On his fifth full-length album, Bird again shows his undeniable musical craftsmanship.
Much like its predecessors, "Noble Beast" quietly transports listeners to an easy-listening heaven, where its inhabitants pad around in slippers and smoking jackets. Bird's only weakness is his quirky wordplay. Fortunately, the combination of his soothing croon and beautiful acoustic guitar/violin interplay make it easy to overlook his history class lyrics. (On "Tenuous" he sings "From proto-Sanskrit Minoans to porto-centric Lisboans." Huh?)
Standout "Anoanimal" manages to pack all of the album's wide dynamic range into just one track. Broad violin strokes compliment staccato guitar notes, bells and bass drum fill in the empty spaces, and the song slowly rises into a grand crescendo. What else would we expect?
05 Tenuousness - Andrew Bird
For fans of: Rufus Wainwright, The Decemberists
Rating: 3.5 of 4
2 comments:
I liked Armchair a lot, I will have to check this one out.
Hey Happy B-day today! Thanks for wrecking Mick ome teaching your parents because SOMEBODY had to have a birthday or something... ha ha j.k.
I hope Vanilla exceeded all your birthday wishes.
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