Andrew Bird Noble Beast [Slipcase]

3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t's Bird's impressionistic lyrics that carry the emotional payload. 'Nomenclature' is a sweet ballad that explodes unexpectedly."
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "With his SAT-acing vocabulary, Bird still rocks some of the best rhymes in the game....Bird's phlegmatic voice has a way of softening tragedies and soothing beasts -- natural, noble, or otherwise."
4.5 stars out of 5 -- "Debut single 'Oh No' combines gently picked acoustic guitar, delicate beats and Bird's signature whistling to create a lush soundscape for the musician's literary lyrics to play upon."
4 stars out of 5 -- '[T]he unhurried 'Natural Disaster' is as elegiac as pop music can be and, once it gets going, 'The Privateers' is proof that he can do thumping pop too."
4 stars out of 5 -- "His trademark whistling and twilight violin lend a blissful sense of romantic resignation to the folky 'Masterswarm' and the gypsy-tinged 'Tenuousness'..."
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "This beast takes care and feeding, but its purring tongue has hints to drop about our changing times."
Paste (magazine) (p.50) - "Here, Bird's arrangements are uncharacteristically subtle. Trademark orchestral swells take the backburner to confident vocals, easy melodies, guitar plucking and -- yes -- freakishly good whistling."
Clash (Magazine) (p.93) - "Andrew Bird's latest offering plays out like a weird dream sequence. The multi-instrumentalist uses his skill to great effect..."