Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
Quite why I have been so slow to review, or indeed to appreciate, this album may be the fault of that staple of 21st Century music listening: the random function. It’s not entirely my fault but the first half dozen or so times I listened to this album I didn’t do so either in its entirety or in the correct order, and consequently I really didn’t think it was very good.
Maybe it’s different for others, but I only really started to get this album once I had listened to it from start to finish in the order in which it was intended to be heard. I can enjoy the songs in isolation much more now that I feel I understand them a little better, but until I’d listened to it properly I couldn’t really appreciate them properly.
I’d still say, despite its indie blog darling status, that this album is no better than good. It starts out with a flurry of pop songs, purposeful electronic beats, some dreamy, distorted vocals and consistently appealing melodies which leak from the songs from time to time, just to remind you that this is still music for humming along to. This really only lasts for the first half, however, and as the album progresses I still find myself losing a little interest. The pace of the electronics slows somewhat, losing that abducted trance music feel and slipping into slightly directionless musical collage.
Maybe this is just a band for real fans. I like what I think are the most accessible pop songs – the easy ones, if you will. There are plenty of groups who I got into that way, whose more obtuse work didn’t really reveal its qualities until I had progressed through the requisite stages of the easier stuff, and come to understand the dynamics of the music a little better. This may well prove to be the case with Animal Collective, but for now my reaction is patchy.
Animal Collective – In the Flowers
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Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
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Oh fuck it…I was waiting so I wouldn’t be the first sad-sap to post. I love this album…it is the first Animal Collective album that I’ve heard, and I find it joyous and uplifting from start to finish…lovely!!!!
I will now track down and devour their other releases….
So I take it you don’t find your attention slipping about half way through? I just think the songs lose a little bit of focus at that point.
i got it a couple of weeks ago (vis the Rough Trade Album club) and have listen to a fair few times….and it just keeps getting more and more interesting with every play…..i’m not an expert on the Animal Collective, and this might be a shite example of what they do….but i like it.
Well it’s taken a long time to grow on me as much as it has, so there might be yet more growing to be done in future. There’s definitely some great bits on here.
It’s a good album as matthew said. If you want a truly great one then try either ‘Sung Tongs’ or ‘Feels’, which are both as good as each other.
They’ve definitely got talent, but for some reason I have never been able to muster any enthusiasm for this lot at all. It’s more ‘interesting’ than enjoyable, like a 3-hour documentary about coral. I find my… interest…… lags….
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Well the first half of this album is definitely quite immediate. It’s just the second half that I’m not all that convinced by just yet.
But that may change.
Eurgh – I can’t stand the stuff, personally.
The first track has the pungent aroma of Lamb Lies Down On Broadway era Genesis about it.
For me, the jury’s still out on whether that’s a good thing or not.
The second one resolutely refuses to capture my attention enough for me to form an opinion on it.
Aha, interesting. This is my favourite album of the year so far – by miles. I suppose it helps that I’m a big Animal Collective fan, but I can’t get enough of it. ‘My Girls’ and ‘Bluish’ have been going around in my head constantly for the last couple of weeks.
I’d also recommend their previous two albums – Feels and Strawberry Jam.
Glad I’m not the only person who hasn’t got into this at all. I’ve said to a few people that this is a decent 5 track EP (first 4 tracks and the last 1) but the rest does nothing and goes nowhere. Listened to it over a dozen times too, on speakers, headphones, even at the gym, and it still doesn’t do anything for me and I think I’ve given it enough chances now. Patchy and over-rated.