Arts & Culture
90 FM’s fit-to-print selection; Animal Collective music review
Arts and Culture Reporter
Becoming immersed in Animal Collective’s latest offering, “Merriweather Post Pavilion,” is the aural equivalent of diving into a brilliant ocean of color and sound.
Undulating bass lines, skittering percussion and shimmering electronic details form the backdrop for what is the most fantastic and well-executed journey that pop music has taken in some time.
While the past has found Animal Collective dallying in the immediacy and intimacy of acoustic instrumentation, “Merriweather Post Pavilion” is an almost entirely electronic endeavor, sparing the practiced vocals of Avey Tare and Panda Bear and the bits and pieces of percussion.
The album is distinctly Animal Collective; the vocal interplay, dreamlike headspace and boundless playful energy of the group have reached new heights while still remaining recognizable.
Taken as a whole, the album flows remarkably well together, though certain tracks cannot help but stand out as stronger offerings.
The house revival number “My Girls” lights up the dance floor of our collective subconscious, “Summertime Clothes” carries us along on it’s own driving wings of pop reverie, “Bluish” melts hearts with sweet lyrics and comforting layers of noise and “Brother Sport” ends the album with the opposite of the typical curtain closing. Instead, Animal Collective throw the curtains wide open and reveals a dizzying world of sunshine, ass-shaking and life- affirming melodies.
Predicting where Animal Collective will end up next is an exercise in futility; the band has traveled many musical paths in their own inquisitive manner, and it is safe to say that any type of music is fair game.
To look at “Merriweather Post Pavilion” as just another step in a path is a grave mistake however. The album is a warm and inviting experience, channeling dance and pop music so well that the songs feel more like things that we already had in ourselves rather than an offering from the band. Trekking past the album and writing it off as mere experimentation is to ignore one of the most wholly unique and engrossing experiences in music at the moment.
