It’s fitting that Useless Creatures opens with the clip-clop of hooves given that the mention of his name instantly calls to mind Andrew Bird perched delicately atop a saddle, his riding crop embroidered with some synonym for “ennui.” A rerelease of the once-limited-edition bonus CD to 2009’s Noble Beast, these nine instrumental tracks are decidedly less precious than their counterpart, due primarily to the absence of lexical drive-bys like the rhyming of “plecostomus” with “posthumous.”
It’s not to begrudge the Northwestern grad his linguistic savvy, it’s just that the cleverness of Bird’s lyrics often translates as smug showmanship rather than a celebration of wordplay. The witticisms here are mercifully bequeathed to the wordless: stringed instruments, percussion and a coterie of loop pedals. For “Carrion Suite,” one of the album’s most interestingly orchestrated cuts, Bird takes listeners through a primer on violin techniques, sliding through a charming opening melody (glissando), transitioning to the hammered-dulcimer-like sounds of the bow’s wood striking against the strings (col legno), and finally slipping into one of the songster’s ubiquitous pizzicato grooves.
“Barn Tapes” finds the 37-year-old at his most adventurous and ephemeral, a finger caressing the pitch bender as Copland-esque strains of a tuning string section writhe undersea. Rounded out with vibrant African-inspired vignettes, such as the folksy scrimmage of “Nyatiti” and the impressive feat of violin-posing-as-mbira in “Hot Math,” Useless Creatures is certainly worth a perusal for those dissuaded by the indefatigable whistler’s prior efforts.
- Doyle Armbrust
published in Time Out Chicago on December 8th, 2010