Better Late than Never is a new feature where I write what I think about albums and/or tracks. Considering I don’t update often, and when I do, I write about other important stuff (like hamburgers), I will likely be reviewing albums and songs many months after they come out. These reviews will likely come out well after you have purchased or illegally downloaded the album, listened to it multiple times, and formed an opinion about it, so these reviews will be of no utility to you. Why you’re reading them, I don’t know. It’s your time to waste.
Noble Beast is the follow-up to Andrew Bird’s last album Armchair Apocrypha, a very good album in its own right. Fortunately, Noble Beast proves to be another great folk-influenced indie rock effort from Bird.
One of Bird’s hallmarks is finding rich melodies and harmonies within a simple basic chord progression. Violin, guitar, and whistling embellishments over a simple chord progression characterize Noble Beast, resulting in complex, catchy songs. Album opener “Oh No” best characterizes this in its first minute; violin swells over a two-chord, plucked acoustic guitar progression at first, then the violins give way to Bird’s whistling.
Many standout tracks appear. “Anonanimal” surprises with its unconventional structure and tongue-twisting lyrics. The lyrics should not be too much of a surprise for people who have followed Bird’s career. In most instances, it seems he focuses on how the words sound rather than what they mean. “Tenuousness” features a plucked, distorted electric violin and a tempo that soldiers on. “Souverian” carries forward simply and elegantly while Bird laments that “though thrushes sing/still my lover won’t return to me,” a rare moment of comprehensibility in Bird’s lyrics. The song then codas into a rich instrumental, sounding like something from The Soft Bulletin.
Only a couple tracks seem to “Effigy,” while a solid song by itself, slows the album down too much, especially after the energy of “Fitz and the Dizzyspells.” “Nomenclature” seems to lull for the majority of the song. Even the closing swell seems forced.
However, even Noble Beast’s worst is far and away better than many artists’ best work. While some people may be put off by some of Bird’s quirks (particularly the lyrics), those people would be missing out on a very good indie/folk record.
