Noble Beast

Noble Beast
Studio album by Andrew Bird
Released	January 20, 2009 (2009-01-20)
Genre	Baroque pop
Length	54:17
Label	Fat Possum (US) Bella Union (UK)
Andrew Bird chronology
Soldier On EP (2007) Noble Beast (2009) Fingerlings 4 (2010)

Noble Beast is the fifth solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter Andrew Bird, and his eighth overall. It was released on January 20, 2009. ^[1] Two songs from this album were previewed on his webpage; "Oh No" and "Carrion Suite", while the entire album was made available by NPR ^[2] as a streaming feed. Noble Beast was made available as a standard CD release, a special limited-edition deluxe two-CD package and a double-LP package.

The track "Tenuousness" appears in the closing credits for the 2011 movie Crazy, Stupid, Love .

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	79/100 [3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
The A.V. Club	(B+) [5]
Drowned in Sound	(9/10) [6]
The Guardian	[7]
LA Times	[8]
Paste	(6.7/10) [9]
Tiny Mix Tapes	[10]
Pitchfork	(7.5/10) [11]
Rolling Stone	[12]
The Skinny	[13]
Spin	(7/10) [14]
Uncut	[15]

The album received a Metacritic score of 79 out of 100 based on 29 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews. ^[3]

The album debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at No. 12, and No. 3 on the Top Rock Albums Albums chart, ^[16] selling 26,000 copies in the first week. ^[17] The album has sold 150,000 copies in the United States as of December 2011 ^[update] . ^[18]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Andrew Bird, except where noted.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Oh No"		4:20
2.	"Masterswarm"		6:35
3.	"Fitz and the Dizzyspells"		3:36
4.	"Effigy"		5:06
5.	"Tenuousness"		3:51
6.	"Nomenclature"		2:54
7.	"Ouo"		0:20
8.	"Not a Robot, but a Ghost"	Bird, Martin Dosh	5:37
9.	"Unfolding Fans"	Bird, Jeremy Ylvisaker	0:57
10.	"Anonanimal"		4:47
11.	"Natural Disaster"		4:18
12.	"The Privateers"		3:24
13.	"Souverian"		7:18
14.	"On Ho"		1:08

Bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
15.	"Section 8 City" (iTunes only bonus track)	7:41
16.	"10-you-us" (iTunes pre-order only bonus track)
17.	"Take Courage" (eMusic only bonus track)	6:51

Other appearances

• "Not a Robot, But a Ghost" samples from the song "First Impossible," which appears on Dosh's album Wolves and Wishes .
• "The Privateers" uses lyrics similar to "The Confession," a song appearing on Oh! The Grandeur by Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire.
• A different version of "Section 8 City" appears on Fingerlings 4 .

Useless Creatures (Deluxe edition bonus disc)

Deluxe Edition album art, used for the Noble Beast/Useless Creatures 2-CD set

The limited edition of Noble Beast shipped with a companion disc of instrumental songs, entitled Useless Creatures. ^[19] This collection was made available on Bird's website in early January, before the album's release. Noble Beast / Useless Creatures was deleted after a single run, both in the US and the UK, exclusively.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Master Sigh"	2:17
2.	"You Woke Me Up!"	7:24
3.	"Nyatiti"	4:01
4.	"The Barn Tapes"	10:12
5.	"Carrion Suite"	9:39
6.	"Spinney"	0:45
7.	"Dissent"	3:54
8.	"Hot Math"	7:18
9.	"Sigh Master"	5:32

Personnel

• Andrew Bird – violin, vocals, whistling, guitar
• Martin Dosh – percussion, looping, keys
• Jeremy Ylvislaker – guitar, bass, organ, shortwave
• Kelly Hogan – background vocals
• Mike Lewis – clarinet
• Todd Sickafoose – double bass
• Ben Martin – cardboard box drums
• Tony Crow – juno

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [20]	77
French Albums (SNEP) [21]	62
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [22]	64
US Billboard 200 [23]	12
US Digital Albums ( Billboard ) [24]	2
US Independent Albums ( Billboard ) [25]	1
US Top Rock Albums ( Billboard ) [26]	3
US Indie Store Album Sales ( Billboard ) [27]	2

References

1. Paul Thompson, "Andrew Bird to Unleash Noble Beast on New Album" Archived October 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine , pitchforkmedia.com, October 3, 2008.
2. "Exclusive First Listen: Andrew Bird's 'Noble Beast'". NPR .
3. "Noble Beast by Andrew Bird". Metacritic.
4. "Noble Beast - Andrew Bird | Album". AllMusic . Retrieved January 20, 2025.
5. "Andrew Bird: Noble Beast". AV Club. January 27, 2009.
6. Skinner, James (February 2, 2009). "Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
7. Costa, Maddy (January 30, 2009). "Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". The Guardian . London. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
8. Brown, August (January 20, 2009). "Album review: Andrew Bird's 'Noble Beast'". Los Angeles Times.
9. "Andrew Bird: Noble Beast". Past Magazine.
10. "Music Review: Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". Tinymixtapes.com.
11. Tangari, Joe (January 22, 2009). "Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". Pitchfork.
12. Hermes, Will (January 20, 2009). "Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 23, 2009.
13. Watson, Gillian. "Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". The Skinny.
14. Suarez, Jessica (December 27, 2008). "Andrew Bird, 'Noble Beast' (Fat Possum)". SPIN.
15. McKay, Alastair. "Album Review: Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". Uncut. Archived from the original on December 6, 2010.
16. "Top Rock Albums". Billboard. February 7, 2009.
17. Caulfield, Keith (March 14, 2012). "Bruce Springsteen Squeaks By Adele, Earns Tenth No. 1 Album". Billboard.
18. "ANDREW BIRD to release 'Break It Yourself' in March 2012". Bella Union. December 8, 2011.
19. "Andrew Bird new album release moved up". NME. November 26, 2008.
20. "Ultratop.be – Andrew Bird – Noble Beast" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
21. "Lescharts.com – Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". Hung Medien.
22. "Dutchcharts.nl – Andrew Bird – Noble Beast" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
23. "Andrew Bird Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard .
24. "Andrew Bird Chart History (Digital Albums)". Billboard . ^{[ dead link ]}
25. "Andrew Bird Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard .
26. "Andrew Bird Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard .
27. "Andrew Bird Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard .