After months of seemingly endless speculation, anticipation, restrictive measures safeguarding its release, and general giddiness, Animal Collective's latest effort, Merriweather Post Pavilion, is released today on vinyl and accompanying digital download. Faced with such incredible heights of hype and hope, surprisingly, it does not disappoint. Although it won't take much to convince several of you, I wanted to offer a few words on an album sure to be one of the best of 2009 and beyond.
Serving as a realized culmination of the number of musical experiments the collective has been honing throughout their tenure, Merriweather sounds like the product of a band that has fine-tuned their unique craft to its sharpest execution. We've been continually reminded that AC has been blessed with the likes of two pronouncedly talented vocalists, and often the synthesis of their defining particularities has grown songs into wonderfully harmonic call-and-response soliloquies. Even so, past tracks have often quickly revealed the primary song-crafter, as Avey Tare and Panda Bear contribute ostensibly distinct approaches to their music. With Merriweather, that Lennon v. McCartney dynamic is less pronounced due to an amazingly cohesive production effort. Geologist's combination of loops/samples/field recordings/unlikely natural noise into a seamphony of supporting sounds yields an embrace of meditative melody that's always been present with the Collective but is flushed out to perfection on this album.
Beginning with the quintessential opener "In the Flowers," and continuing throughout the album, AC synthesizes shimmering synthetic arpeggios, rolling primal rhythms, atmospheric vocals, and crashes into a new addition/transition: thundering bass. Midway through the opening track, the crescendo grips you with a sub-woofing and thumping bass rumbling beneath the otherworldly accentuation. This distinction reveals itself continually and it has become evident that to fully appreciate the full-body catharsis the album should bring, one must have speakers capable of handling low-end frequencies. More than other AC efforts, Merriweather sheds light on Panda Bear's reference to Daft Punk in the Person Pitch liner notes as it's scattered with a number of psych-pop club bangers.
Although the collective trio has long since moved to an almost completely electronic methodology, the content and feel of the lyrics remain substantively organic, and celebrate an inherently humanistic naivety. One of the stronger tracks, "My Girls," relishes the joy in a life grounded in the celebration of simplicity. Another, "Guy's Eyes" flaunts the natural instincts we all promulgate with our desire for the individual's want of the other. The songs callback to a time when songs were written and sung in earnest celebration of life and loved ones, and the permanence of that sentiment remains undeniable. The content reminds one of basic human impulses and instincts: necessities, joys, whims, and desires we face individually, but with a collective history to support us.
Animal Collective have always maintained an idealistic sentimentality about those opaque, secluded or neglected treasures in life, and MPP continues that celebration. Except this album extends its celebratory reach beyond the growing sub-genre of music folks who've followed them since Here Comes the Indian, or before. It's an album that embraces all that is good about historically and universally celebrated melodic and rhythmic music, and could popularize their inimitable perspective. As one of those who's admired their natural progression, I hope it does.
Get into it.
God loves a cheerful giver.
just finished listening - phenomenal effort
I think I read this review yesterday...
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/148230-animal-collective-merriweather-post-pavilion
Thanks dude. I confess, I felt a bit sheepish after reading the P-fork assessment. Though it would have been a lot more helpful on Saturday when I wrote the majority of the the review.
Lame review. Not as lame as this band. But you have a nice sweater.
i, for one, applaud aaron for opening himself up to criticism by admitting to liking something that pitchfork liked on an indie blog
stunning.
also-for the record, Aaron submitted this by Monday, I just chose to run it the day of the release. All his love is his own.
death to critics! but it's a tight album. you could have just said that, as I'm sure most of the people who clicked the link had already downloaded merriweather
yes, dan, it seems hard for some (particularly "indie" music fans) to admit to enjoying somethings that several others do as well. and it's tough to write record reviews. this was my first and felt compelled as the record is phenomenal. sure, it's self-indulgent to offer one's opinion, but what isn't these days?
great band - another great album. Does anyone know if any shows are planned in the DC - Baltimore area?
Coolest album cover art ever. How is John not all over this?
While the visual effect might be... err... comment worthy... there is no "design" per se or even a concept other than the trick on the eyes established by the pattern. I haven't gotten my hands on the whole package so it may still get it's day in the sun but I am fairly certain the intro won't begin with "coolest album cover art ever." Sorry Jesse.
np - my guess is that they will probably play at merriweather.
worst name for an album ever. totally gay.
I didn't read this until now because I thought it was a review from some show crap at Merriweather. Oops.
i shouldn't have been so harsh; i was just hoping that they would have named the album 'wolf trap national park for the performing arts', that's all.
that artwork is trippin me out hard.
Sadly, the album sucks. They are a band so constantly on the verge of being either incredible, or just plain stupid. This album fell to the latter side. Too much Panda Bear, "I am living in a children's story that takes place in a friendly forest" bs... I thought they were moving in the right direction recently but I guess not.