Put your money on Andrew Bird and his latest album, Noble Beast. While this one has taken its time to come to India, it does not disappoint. If you’re new to Bird, then this is not a bad album to start with. Compared to his previous work, Weather Systems and 2007’s Armchair Apocrypha (delightful album), this one is rather simple and with fewer surprises but more memorable music. It starts with Oh No, a song Bird said he thought of when he was sitting next to a child on a plane who kept thinking the plane would crash and would intermittently cry “Oh No”. That’s Bird for you, his humour is always positively ironic, the rhythm upbeat lest you take him for a cynic. It also helps that he’s an accomplished violinist and whistler. His song writing is also at its best here: So will you come to burn an effigy? It should keep the flies away,And when you long to burn this effigy, It should be of the hours that slip away, slip away. Other songs that will keep you rooted to the album come later, such as Natural Disaster, Not a Robot, but a ghost, Anoanimal is particularly remarkable in its arrangement and has multiple textures. Over all, an album for keeps.