andrew bird

Andrew Bird is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, but his greatest strength is his command of the English language. Bird is an adept whistler and glockenspiel player who has the poise to pull off lyrics like, "I see a sea anemone/The enemy, see a sea anemone/And that'll be the end of me." It is this unusual approach to music that has made Andrew Bird's work interesting and full of surprises-his instrumentals are more like compositions, and his lyrics are crafted rather than just written.

Bird's new release, Noble Beast, is tailored to his singular talents, but at the same time leaves something to be desired. While his past albums thrived on the building and release of tension, Noble Beast has a flow that is a bit too even-keeled to maintain interest. Bird's disaffected vocals fail to highlight the lyrical idiosyncrasies that delighted in the past. Though the interplay of male and female vocals and string sections on songs like "Effigy" and "Anonanimal" are stirring on their own, they tend to get lost in the mix.

This underscores Noble Beast's fatal flaw: the album is lesser than the sum of its parts, and the lack of diversity makes listening to the entire album a drag. As if speaking to the ghost of his past work, Bird laments, "Inside me grows a man/Who speaks with perfect diction/As he orders my eviction/As he acts with more conviction/Than I."