Andrew Bird is just what the name implies. The jazzy, folk-pop artist flies over beat and measure with fresh fervor on his fifth and latest full-length studio album, Noble Beast, a title most noble for its substance indeed. A classically trained violinist and former Squirrel Nut Zippers member, Bird finds a higher tier of musical intelligence that leaves us on the ground in awe. It is impossible to listen to an Andrew Bird song passively, because every song, every chorus and bridge, makes you believe there is no other. It is the song we were born with.
Noble Beast holds its own as an expressive masterpiece. It leaves you braver, yet with a tease of sadness in the back of your mind that really pulls for the artist. The vocabulary alone of this album puts the mind into a tizzy, creating its own meaning and pushing it outward, warmly, into its audience. The album opens with “Oh No”, a song with catchy, yet lyrical beauty that proclaims “arm and arm, we are the harmless sociopaths.” The shining jewel of this album, “Fitz & Dizzyspells”, puts itself aside. It is bright, it is darling, it is a song you can bob your head prettily at, leaving you in smiles. That Bird can have this effect veers into the supernatural of the very talented. A haunting clarinet and flamenco intro into “Not a Robot, But a Ghost” sets the scene…then virtually explodes into an flowing, yet jaunty dance that blends voice, grinding beats, and a sound of sensuality, yet celebratory in its sadness.
Together, Andrew Bird’s expert at endearing dysfunction and rejoicing melancholy creates a necessity for those true followers of music.
By Sara Henry Heistand: Global Cafe Staff Writer
REVIEW COMING SOON
REVIEW COMING SOON
REVIEW COMING SOON
