“Oh No”
Andrew Bird
2.5 out of 5 stars
From Noble Beast, out January 20
Fat Possum
For those salivating over the pending arrival of Noble Beast, “Oh No” will serve as a savory appetizer. The track is vintage Bird, complete with whimsical whistling, spectral strings and colorfully surreal lyrics about calcium mines and sociopaths. But this cuddly nostalgia comes at a price: For an artist as innovative as Bird, “Oh No” tastes surprisingly stale. It marks the calcification of his freewheeling tropes into a predictable formula. Hopefully, the rest of Beast can pop this bubble of music-single déjà vu.