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Mar 22, 2019he 10 tracks that make up My Finest Work Yet feel even more present, more in the moment, while never sacrificing any musicianship. Paul Butler’s production makes a gorgeous chorus out of the potential cacophony of a roomful of instruments and voices. The arrangements are as precise as ever, the track order gradually revealing a narrative that includes wrongdoings, incitement, and action.
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Mar 25, 2019It may not garner the same kind of fond appreciation that fans have for The Mysterious Production of Eggs, or Break It Yourself, but this album is less a niche corner of the folk genre and more an illustrious banner for all to appreciate. In Bird’s vast canon of genre experimentation, there’s room for at least one big time indie-rock record--and this fills those shoes quite well.
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Apr 3, 2019These 10 songs are some of his most musically straightforward and accessible.
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Mar 29, 2019My Finest Work Yet an album that will immediately appeal to Andrew Bird’s long-term fans, and may well attract a few new ones as well.
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Mar 29, 2019It’s a piece of masterful craftsmanship tucked snugly into the singer-songwriter tradition, filled with country-soul ballads and grungy laments driven by jangly guitars, family band harmonies, rumbling pianos and cinematic string passages that should appeal broadly to fans of the genre without alienating his own die-hards.
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Mar 25, 2019Rather than issuing directives, Bird, like most of us, is struggling to figure out what to make of trying times without reducing himself to the level of the worst among us, and the process has helped him create an album that is likely to stay relevant and satisfying for a long time to come.
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Mar 25, 2019My Finest Work Yet is an elegant musical piece, enriched by stimulating messaging.
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Q MagazineMar 20, 2019My Finest Work is definitely a high watermark, and one that deserves to reach a bigger audience. [May 2019, p.117]
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Mar 20, 2019Blending themes of politics and modern science into his fashion of storytelling, My Finest Work Yet is a true tour de force.
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Mar 25, 2019A pleasantly surprising return on My Finest Work Yet, his most plainly and darkly funny album in a long time.
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Apr 1, 2019My Finest Work Yet is a strong collection of music buoyed by Bird’s mastery as a musician, recognizable whistling melodies, and , thoughtful lyrics. He does get political and inevitably opens himself up to criticism for it, but he does so with a light touch that doesn’t overpower the songs. Even if listeners disagree with Bird’s views, they’ll still enjoy the music.
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UncutMar 21, 2019"Bellevue Bridge Club" lands somewhere between Van Morrison, Richie Havens and--if only thanks to his violin's drones--The Velvet Underground, while "Manifest" is like a sober Townes Van Zandt. [May 2019, p.24]
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Mar 20, 2019Recorded live without headphones or separate tracks, the sound is intimate and conspiratorial. The perfect polish of a meticulously assembled recording is set aside in favour of a sense of the room and the musicians in it, united in their organic performances.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 25 out of 31
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Mixed: 5 out of 31
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Negative: 1 out of 31
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Mar 22, 2019
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May 7, 2019
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Apr 3, 2019