Andrew Bird ‘Noble Beast’.

Multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist and all round brainybox genius Andrew Bird returns with another glorious blast of sonic wonderment. Dotted with more peaks than the Rocky Mountains, ‘Noble Beast’ is a further evidence of the man’s polysyllabic style that is flecked with all the same charm and pastoral whimsy that kept Grandpa’s heart beating before he copped it trying to sneak into that Convent across the road.

‘Masterswarm’ is a dizzily brilliant sway whilst the inappropriately-named ‘Tenuousness’ is anything but; scaling the majestic heights of previous high-point ‘Scythian Empires’ and the anthemic surge of ‘The Privateers’ rocks with the hip-shimmying swing of ‘Imitosis’. ‘Effigy’ packs more hooks than an abattoir and ‘Souverian’ gets you all misty eyed before the instrumental lament of ‘On Ho!’ makes for a fittingly skewed and lilting coda.

Sure, it isn’t perfect; Noble Beast suffered from being slightly overlong and, God bless him, old Birdy still has an uncomfortable preoccupation with jaunty whistling and his muso tendencies do sometimes blunt his impact, but overall its another bold step towards greater recognition without straying one inch from his pottering prolificancy. Wonderful stuff – and ‘Imitosis’ is lurking below to get you in the mood: