The Mysterious Production of Eggs (2005)

Versed in a wealth of forms (from swing to Appalachian folk) and instruments (from the violin to the glockenspiel), Andrew Bird offers a shapely, mesmerizing CD as inventive as it is rooted in musical lore. ''A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left,'' for example, lays country whimsy and a touch of rock on a lush bed of strings. It's just one of the high-lights of The Mysterious Production of Eggs, which peaks again and again, each time divulging something distinctly astounding or just plain beautiful.