The Deluxe version of Noble Beasts, released last year contained an adventurous instrumental disc, Useless Creatures which is due for its own release this month with Bella Union Records.
Leaving behind any semblance of musical mediocrity, Andrew Bird’s Hot Math adds and subtracts the aural ingredients necessary to create a successive looping groove, devoid of any comprehensible structure. The track skips along in a hypnotic, syncopated rhythm, each instrumental loop struggling with the next for dominance in the soundscape. The absence of lyrics in ‘Hot Math’ prove inconsequential. As the song unfurls, the experimental ambience created by Bird’s quavering whistles provide yet another ethereal layer. The digital backtrack is consistently over layered by Bird’s unconventional use of the violin, switching between finger picking and bow throughout. Hot Math gives a home to the delicacies of acoustics and the ambiance of digital sound.
Words: Daragh Mc Sherry
