Hat tips to both Mark Hoobler and Scott Guldin for pointing out that you can hear all of Andrew Bird’s new album Noble Beast here on NPR’s site. Much more gushing about Mr. Bird to follow soon, probably shortly after the album officially releases on January 20. For now we’ll just say that the single “Oh No” (track one) is growing on us, and that in typical Andrew Bird fashion he has managed to match the absurd vocabulary of the first six lines (below) with a musically compelling arrangement. In anyone else’s hands, these verses would be a joke:
In the salsify mains of what was thought but unsaid All the calcified arithmatists were doing the math It would take a calculated blow to the head To light the eyes of all the harmless sociopaths Oh arm and arm we are (with all) the harmless sociopaths (2x) Calcium mines were buried deep in your chest (2x)
And yes, “salsify” is actually a word.
You can also listen to a live chat with Mr. Bird here.
In other indie rock news, Sasha Frere-Jones adds a postscript to his New Yorker profile of Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) by noting that his new EP Blood Bank (also out Jan. 20) can be heard on the band’s MySpace page.
