Layers, so many bloody layers. A rock writer once said that listening to the Beatles fucks up your selective hearing. If that is true, then Baltimore four (sometimes two or three) piece Animal Collective are the new Beatles.
Jumping on a day glo pedestal somewhere between avant-garde electro and pure pop brilliance, ninth album Merriweather Post Pavilion is not incredibly detached from their previous material, but shows a band that are incredibly aware of the music they are making.
The songs have reached musical and lyrical perfection. Almost exclusively electronic, the bubbling and pulsing swells juxtapose a calming synth wash lapping on your speakers.
Songs about taking your clothes off in the summer, and the joys of coming of age lend an almost sentimental youthfulness and naivety to the songs.
Now almost devoid of the yelps main singer Avey Tare is known for, and replaced with reverb drenched harmonies more akin to the Beach Boys or mountain boys Fleet Foxes.
So forget Tiny Shoes, or whoever the BBC has voted the sound of ’09 - you know we will have by October. Animal Collective have earned every bit of praise aimed at them, and deserve to be loved by everyone.
Tuesday 3 February 2009
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