Animal Collective: Fall Be Kind EP
Animal Collective: Fall Be Kind EP
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By Adam Leveridge
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Monday, 14, Dec 2009 04:12
Domino Records, released December 14th.
What's it all about?
Returning to bookend 2009, a year in which they will surely dominate end-of-year lists, the ever-evolving (in both membership and music) Animal Collective offer a selection of songs that missed the cut for inclusion on the critically lauded Merriweather Post Pavilion.
Who's it by?
The decade has seen a dramatic shift for Maryland natives Animal Collective. Working as a loose group of artists, the main core now consists of Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist. A fourth member, Deakin, has been on hiatus since 2007. In total, eight studio albums have been relased under the Animal Collective moniker, not including side projects that include Panda Bear's successful solo work.
With every new record, the collective have found a wider audience, culminating in this year's Merriweather Post Pavilion, which narrowly missed out on a top ten spot in the Billboard album chart and is already finding its way into not only end-of-year lists, but also end-of-decade lists.
As an example...
"Comfort, comfort/Why do you run for it?/Why can't you keep doing/What you're supposed to do?" - Graze
"Is everything alright?/You feeling stoney?/You feeling phony?/You're not the only." - What Would I Want? Sky
What the others say
"The five songs here continue to be beamed in from a less-defined place, one that beguiles and frustrates in equal measure." - Kitty Empire, Observer
"There's still a sense of gamble with Animal Collective, nothing is fixed - and that's exactly what makes them an especially exciting band." - Mark Richardson, Pitchfork
So is it any good?
Animal Collective's increasing popularity has grown in line with the accessibility of their musical output. Pieces have become songs, the music more structured, confident, hook-laden, culminating in 2009's Merriweather Post Pavilion, a bright spark of an album exploding with joyous melody. The Fall Be Kind EP does not contain such effervescence, but still reflects a band on top form.
The EP contains a structure common for a release of its kind, containing a natural divide between the first two tracks and the latter three tracks. The latter three find common ground with both the more ambient work on the second half of Feels and Panda Bear's Person Pitch. Standout of the three I Think I Can is driven by a synth that wouldn't have felt out of place on the Knife's Silent Shout, lending the piece a more unsettling edge before Panda Bear's trademark west coast-influenced harmonies brighten the corners for a gorgeous climax.
The first two tracks, Graze and What Would I Want? Sky are, however, worthy of far more focus, as both offer their own perspectives to the group's continuing evolution.
Graze contains two wildly different halves: the first is almost onomatopoeic, with Avey Tare describing the process of waking up to the sound of electronics mimicking the whistling of woodwind instruments and Disney-esque strings evoking a springtime feel. The second half is more a mission statement than anything else. A sudden transition brings a panpipe courtesy of a Gheorghe Zamfir samplel, which jostles uncomfortably with a jarring synth and the lyric "Comfort, comfort/Why do you run for it?/Why can't you keep doing/What you're supposed to do?" It may not be the most enjoyable musical sequence in their back catalogue, but its meaning is one of great comfort - Animal Collective aren't resting on their laurels just yet.
The standout is What Would I Want? Sky, already a live favourite. Built around a Grateful Dead sample, its main refrain may be the most beautiful thing they have ever recorded. The song carries both invigorating and hypnotizing qualities, thanks to Avey Tare's rhythmically sharp vocals cutting through hazy, entrancing waves of sound. It can also be considered one of Animal Collective's most accessible numbers, and that its presence renders this EP an unqualified success is a very promising sign of things to come.
8/10
John McGlone