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Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion [Album]
Domino January 13, 2009, 10:14 PM Views: 2365
Comments: 44
 You may not know it but Merriweather Post Pavillion has probably been one of the most anticipated albums of the century. Sure there will have been albums anticipated by more people, but not too many will have been anticipated quite as obsessively as Animal Collective’s latest full length. Blogs all over the globe have been rife with rumours and predictions about everything from the title to the artwork, and of course most importantly – the music. Would the band continue their more melodic ascent up ‘mount pop’ or trudge back down the slope to ‘Animal Collective at their most difficult and challenging’?
Well to be honest, neither really. I have read that this is Animal Collective’s “pop” album, but personally I would still pin that tag on Strawberry Jam over any other. Sure, there are no real vocal explosions from Avey Tare, and there definitely seems to be more influence from Panda Bear as this sounds more like ‘Person Pitch’ than any fellow Animal Collective release, but its melodies are not as clear and defined as many of those on Strawberry Jam. Whereas Strawberry Jam had tracks that were instantly hummable, for all their quirkiness, Merriweather’s 11 tracks rarely manage to reveal themselves long enough to recall. Whilst this is no criticism from me, not everyone will see it that way. This album is unlikely to win Animal Collective new fans, as Strawberry Jam is still their most accessible album, and Panda Bear’s Person Pitch is also more immediate and easy to appreciate. However current fans, who are known for being obsessively passionate and loyal to the band, will cherish what Animal Collective have produced here.
It’s a marvellous piece of work; one of those albums (like many of the greats) that keeps on giving. It slowly reveals its charms over repeated listens, rewarding the patient and brave with musical treasures, some of the likes of which they will have never heard before (even from Animal Collective). It’s impossible to digest in one, or even a few listens. Even upon writing this review, I know I still have much more to discover with Merriweather, which is an exciting prospect. To be considered great, an album has to have legs, and Merriweather is likely to have more than most. One key to this is the way the band don’t ram melodies down your throat. They know when less is more, and tend to tease the listener, with melodies drifting in and out of the songs, giving a hint of their beauty rather than a glut.
Opener “In The Flowers”demonstrates this perfectly. Building slowly from a mystical opening, Avey Tare easing us into the album with uncustomary restrained vocals, it suddenly explodes after two and half minutes into a cacophony of electronic insect noise and tribal drums. It’s typically unworldly, and rather fitting then that the album should really kick in after the line “If I could just leave my body for the night”. Staying with the album’s lyrics for a moment, Merriweather is a binary affair. At times the lyrics are extremely candid. On second track “My Girls”, Panda Bear sings about life leaving his twenties, about the things that matter to him now. “Is it much to admit I need, a solid soul and the blood I bleed, with a little girl, and by my spouse, I only want a proper house”. It’s comforting to see a band produce amazing music, without feeling the need to use it to soundtrack tired old rock‘n’roll clichés and histrionics.
Of course, as we have come to expect from Animal Collective, the lyrics elsewhere are typically bizarre. On “Summertime Blues”, perhaps the most straightforward pop song on the whole album, Avey Tare sings, “Let's see the sound of the heat from the sound of the rain, it's easy to sleep when I'm with my brain, it colours my rest with a saccharine sheen, kissing my wind through my window screen”. The lyrics reinforce the offbeat way they approach pop music. When A.C do pop, they don’t do it quite like anyone else (if indeed they do it at all).
The album’s spirited opening makes way for a slightly more composed remainder. It’s still effervescent, but offers the listener more time to survey the musical landscape, as they often did pre-‘Strawberry Jam. “Bluish”, “Guys Eyes” and “No More Runnin” all breathe a little more evenly before they regain their opening pace in the final track; the afro-house of “Brothersport”. The song sounds like Animal Collective’s very own celebration of everything they have produced before it, an absolute dance floor smash in an alternative universe.
Overall this is still the Animal Collective producing difficult music, but it’s never difficult because they want it to be. It’s simply difficult because it’s too contrary, too offbeat for the majority’s tastes. It’s music that challenges people, and their preconceptions and ideas about music. They are not trying to alienate themselves and their music (quite the opposite in fact), they just want to offer people something else , something they haven’t experienced before, and in that lies their greatness; a truly original band making their music, music that they love, that they And so I guess credit is due to their fans, as it would be understandable for a band so unique to question their own artistic beliefs and vision if nobody else shared them. Thankfully many do and they, including myself, genuinely fear the day Animal Collective cease to make music. would want to listen to, and rather comforting for them - knowing the whole time that so do many others.
How far off is that day? Who knows; but this is their ninth album (including a live album) in almost as many years and very possibly their finest. Merriweather Post Pavillion already sounds like the career pinnacle we thought they may have produced with their previous three albums, but the band truly do get better and better. It’s hard to see how they can keep beating themselves though, and it doesn’t seem like anyone else is capable of doing it, not yet at least. It has been famously said that not many people listened to The Velvet Underground, but everyone who did, started making music. It would be hard to argue against this if it were put forward for Animal Collective. They are a truly inspiring musical entity, sounding like absolutely nothing else on the planet; musical pioneers ever changing in line up as well as their music (Josh “Deakin” Dibb sits this one out). Those who truly appreciate what it means to produce great music will pass Animal Collective down to their kids, the way our parents passed on the likes of The Beatles, The Velvet Underground and Pink Floyd.
“Son, you know that new kind of music that you kids listen to now? Let me tell you about the band that started it all......”
Track Listings: 1. In The Flowers 2. My Girls 3. Also Frightened 4. Summertime Clothes 5. Daily Routine 6. Bluish 7. Guys Eyes 8. Taste 9. Lion In A Coma 10. No More Runnin 11. Brother Sport Released 12/01/2009 Buy ‘Merriweather Post Pavillion’ here: Merriweather Post Pavilion: Animal Collective: Amazon.co.uk: Music
http://www.myspace.com/animalcollectivetheband
Last edited by Heron : January 14, 2009 at 05:40 PM.
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| | | | Overall Rating | | 9 | | Vocals / Lyrics | | 8 | | Musicianship | | 8 | | Production | | 10 | | Creativity | | 10 | | Lastability | | 10 | | Reviewers Tilt | | 10 |
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