But the last of Lisa’s family winged home this morning, and I have a week until my job in SLC starts, so I have all the time in the world to wax rhapsodic about the new album.
And what an album it is. Back when Merriweather Post Pavilion came out in mid-January, I had a review planned out in my mind where I called it the best album of 2009. Granted, the dramatic heft of that statement has been somewhat neutered by the intervening five months, but it’s as true now as it was then. Grizzly Bear who? Bat for Lashes what? No matter how you slice it, I guarantee 2009 will end with MPP being the best album of the year. At least according to me.
This is normally the point at which I would delve into the history of Animal Collective and discuss their back catalogue. The problem is, their back catalogue is so dense, so rich and frothy, that it would take me several posts to sum up their musical history before getting around to reviewing MPP. Suffice it to say, like with most challenging music, new listeners of Animal Collective should start at the end and work their way backward; a LIFO approach to familiarization, if you will. Whatever you do, if you’re new to Animal Collective, don’t jump in with Spirit They’ve Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished. That’s the deep end of the pool. That way lies madness.
As for the band itself, Animal Collective features a rotating membership mostly comprised of Avey Tare (real name: David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Deacon (Josh Dibb) and Geologist (Brian Weitz), four friends who met in college and decided – probably while under the influence of psychedelic chemicals – that they should write some bizarre music. Although that music has been described as “Noise Pop,” “Experimental” or “Freak Folk” (I agree with Bart – misleading in the extreme), the label I most prefer is “New Primitivism” (see my 2008 top ten list for an all together too lengthy discussion of New Primitivism), if one really must apply labels at all. Regardless, their music features throbbing beats, samples, tortured shrieks and yelps, screams and grunts, and what sounds like broken Casio keyboards – in a word, it's wonderful. At times, however, Animal Collective strays too far into self-indulgence. Almost every one of their albums has at least one song that’s a seven-minute long drone of shifting, grating noise. I’ve grown to appreciate even those songs, but it’s been a process, almost an act of faith. That said, MPP is remarkable in that it entirely lacks any soft, dead moments; the entire album from start to finish is pure, gold-plated joy. Join me on a whirlwind tour:
The album starts of with “In the Flowers,” probably the most traditionally Animal Collective of any of MPP’s songs. Swirling vocals and watery sounds build until about two minutes thirty seconds, when a crazy carnival erupts and carries the listener, captive, into the next song.“My Girls” is one of two songs on MPP that come the closest to being traditional singles material. It also features one of the most hummable choruses that Tare and company have ever produced: “I don’t mean, to seem like I care about, material things, like the social status. I just want, four walls and adobe slats, for my girls. Whooo!” Another reviewer pointed out that there might have been some intentional irony there, as social status is not a material thing, whereas four walls and slats are. Whatever the meaning behind the song (and trying to find meaning behind Animal Collective songs is not a feat best attempted sober or sane), I dare you to listen to this song without bobbing along to the beat.
The next song, “Also Frightened,” is a manic fire dance of a song. Faint shrieks punctuate laidback, almost contemplative lyrics. It feels simultaneously slow yet fast, relaxed yet anxious, until around the three-minute mark when it evolves into the somehow triumphal refrain of “are you also, frightened?” before returning to the earlier pattern and fading out.
If “My Girls” makes you bob your head, “Summertime Clothes” will make you get up and dance. The second very single-esque song on the album, “Summertime Clothes” wouldn’t feel out of place on a slightly more psychedelic Cut Copy CD. By the end you’ll be singing along: “But I want to walk around with you!”
The next four songs slow things. “Daily Routine” is cascading notes morphing into drawn out vocals and whiplashes. “Bluish” is an almost sweet love song; “I’m getting lost in your curls,” sighs Avery during the chorus. “Guys Eyes,” is all layered vocals and samples, and sounds like it wouldn’t have been out of place on Panda Bear's 2007 solo album Person Pitch. “Taste” is a solipsistic circus ride, as Avery muses whether he’s “really all the things that are outside of me.”
“Lion in a Coma” picks up the pace again; it’s the best (and only?) song I’ve ever heard that features a didgeridoo. Of all the songs on the album, this is the most tribal sounding, but of course this is intentional as Avery yelps that “this wilderness up in my head needs to get right out of my clothes and get into my bedroom.” Again, no idea what he’s talking about, but it sounds fantastic.
“No More Runnin” suggests a secluded lagoon with its slow-tempo beat and drippy sounds. Indeed, the song was written to evoke visions a relaxed, watery refuge. Yet the song begins to take on a melancholic, introspective aspect as the listener realizes that the narrator might currently not be floating in the lagoon, but looks ahead to the day when he will be able to do so. “It’s what I hope for; no more runnin.”
The album finishes up with “Brothersport,” a madcap, droning, reggae-esque, tropical anthem. If this song were in Spanish, it would have easily fit right into El Guincho’s Allegranza. It’s a lively, optimistic song, and it’s the perfect way to finish up the album after the mellower “No More Runnin.”
In MPP, Animal Collective has crafted an album that’s not only their most accessible, but their most cohesive album as well. A lot of good stuff has come out this year, and a lot of good stuff is still on the horizon (new Sunset Rubdown in June!) but for my money, Merriweather Post Pavilion is the best CD 2009 has to offer.
Here's a video of Animal Collective performing "Summertime Clothes" on Letterman:
Here's the music video to "My Girls":
And here's the music video of the song "Fireworks," from their previous album Strawberry Jam:
