Righto, it's February, and I really need to get on with this blog properly. Firstly, I've given up on posting my top albums of '08, for these reasons:
a) It's taking me far too long to write and I want to concentrate on proper, meaty posts now that we're well into 2009.
b) After doing twenty track write-ups, I'm kinda sick of lists at the minute.
c) There are no albums in my Top 10 by artists not already mentioned in the tracks list, and I would surely end up repeating myself.
d) Hmm.. there is no d.
The scraps of the Top 10 I have written will probably be made into a proper list a few months down the line (likely when I'm stuck for other ideas), by which point it'll be more of a retrospective, but hey, never too late to discover good music.
Anyway, here is the first of what will hopefully become a regular feature in 2009: A record review!
Animal Collective
Merriweather Post Pavilion
[Domino, 2009]
Album titles don't have to mean a lot if you don't want them to. A lot of my favourite albums have bloody stupid titles (I mean, what the hell is a "soft bulletin"?), but as long as the music holds up I can happily forgive it. Merriweather Post Pavilion, however, is one of the most apt album titles I have heard in a long time. Named after an outdoors Maryland venue that the band frequented as teens, they themselves have said that just the word "merriweather" has great resonance for them. It means outdoors music - grandiose and uplifting songs you would listen to while lying in long grass, watching clouds drift lazily past the sun. Animal Collective, you see, have made a beautiful and fulfilling summer record.
This is not to suggest that MPP is a pointless listen during the winter months (I've been listening obsessively for a good two weeks, and as of today I need ice skates to go to the shops), rather it is a record so drenched in sunshine and joy that it brings summer to you, all balmy breezes and fields of flowers.
Opening track "In The Flowers" sets the mood perfectly, a hazy and shimmering vision of dancing in a beautiful field. Avey Tare's yearning vocals intertwine with distant handclaps and twinkling keys, building to an explosion of pounding percussion mixed with pure euphoria. The song eventually calms down again, but it is near impossible not to smile right through to the final beautiful line - "now I'm gone/I left flowers for you there".
If this all sounds a bit wishy-washy to you, then let me reassure you that MPP is rich with emotion. Animal Collective have always been good at extracting beauty and heart from the mundane, and on MPP this is more apparent than ever. "My Girls" and "Brother Sport" (both sung by Panda Bear) are two songs merely about looking after your family, and the importance of keeping them going. "Brother Sport" in particular is a highlight, combining familiar abstract vocal trickery with a full-on sonic assault encompassing sirens, digital squiggles and hypnotic percussion.
Other standouts include "Summertime Clothes" a lyrically bizarre ("my bed is a pool and the wall's on fire") but ultimately very sweet ode to summer love, and the dreamily romantic "Bluish". The latter initially feels a little out of place on an AC album, but it soon feels wonderful and natural.
If there is a fault with Merriweather Post Pavilion, it's that it may initially seem more appealing to newcomers than longtime fans. Coming after an album that included songs about digging up ancient monsters and getting stoned after doing the housework, MPP's simple themes of family, romance and happiness may seem rote and dull. Vocally as well, this album is lacking in the screams and yelps that defined songs like "Grass" and "Fireworks", and fans may miss this peculiar but arresting method of vocal delivery. These differences, coupled with the fact that it's a long album composed of long songs, mean MPP is initially overwhelming and a little trying to listen to. Have patience, though, and Animal Collective's trademark sense of whimsy and relentless shaping of sound into all shapes and colours shines through. Most of all, their sense of awe at all life and the world provides is as prominent as always, and perhaps more potent than ever before.
a) It's taking me far too long to write and I want to concentrate on proper, meaty posts now that we're well into 2009.
b) After doing twenty track write-ups, I'm kinda sick of lists at the minute.
c) There are no albums in my Top 10 by artists not already mentioned in the tracks list, and I would surely end up repeating myself.
d) Hmm.. there is no d.
The scraps of the Top 10 I have written will probably be made into a proper list a few months down the line (likely when I'm stuck for other ideas), by which point it'll be more of a retrospective, but hey, never too late to discover good music.
Anyway, here is the first of what will hopefully become a regular feature in 2009: A record review!
Animal Collective
Merriweather Post Pavilion
[Domino, 2009]
Album titles don't have to mean a lot if you don't want them to. A lot of my favourite albums have bloody stupid titles (I mean, what the hell is a "soft bulletin"?), but as long as the music holds up I can happily forgive it. Merriweather Post Pavilion, however, is one of the most apt album titles I have heard in a long time. Named after an outdoors Maryland venue that the band frequented as teens, they themselves have said that just the word "merriweather" has great resonance for them. It means outdoors music - grandiose and uplifting songs you would listen to while lying in long grass, watching clouds drift lazily past the sun. Animal Collective, you see, have made a beautiful and fulfilling summer record.
This is not to suggest that MPP is a pointless listen during the winter months (I've been listening obsessively for a good two weeks, and as of today I need ice skates to go to the shops), rather it is a record so drenched in sunshine and joy that it brings summer to you, all balmy breezes and fields of flowers.
Opening track "In The Flowers" sets the mood perfectly, a hazy and shimmering vision of dancing in a beautiful field. Avey Tare's yearning vocals intertwine with distant handclaps and twinkling keys, building to an explosion of pounding percussion mixed with pure euphoria. The song eventually calms down again, but it is near impossible not to smile right through to the final beautiful line - "now I'm gone/I left flowers for you there".
If this all sounds a bit wishy-washy to you, then let me reassure you that MPP is rich with emotion. Animal Collective have always been good at extracting beauty and heart from the mundane, and on MPP this is more apparent than ever. "My Girls" and "Brother Sport" (both sung by Panda Bear) are two songs merely about looking after your family, and the importance of keeping them going. "Brother Sport" in particular is a highlight, combining familiar abstract vocal trickery with a full-on sonic assault encompassing sirens, digital squiggles and hypnotic percussion.
Other standouts include "Summertime Clothes" a lyrically bizarre ("my bed is a pool and the wall's on fire") but ultimately very sweet ode to summer love, and the dreamily romantic "Bluish". The latter initially feels a little out of place on an AC album, but it soon feels wonderful and natural.
If there is a fault with Merriweather Post Pavilion, it's that it may initially seem more appealing to newcomers than longtime fans. Coming after an album that included songs about digging up ancient monsters and getting stoned after doing the housework, MPP's simple themes of family, romance and happiness may seem rote and dull. Vocally as well, this album is lacking in the screams and yelps that defined songs like "Grass" and "Fireworks", and fans may miss this peculiar but arresting method of vocal delivery. These differences, coupled with the fact that it's a long album composed of long songs, mean MPP is initially overwhelming and a little trying to listen to. Have patience, though, and Animal Collective's trademark sense of whimsy and relentless shaping of sound into all shapes and colours shines through. Most of all, their sense of awe at all life and the world provides is as prominent as always, and perhaps more potent than ever before.
2 comments:
Spot on Elliot, nice read. Seems Niall brought you up well!
elliot! i started a blog this evening so thankyou for giving me something to do!
on animal colllective - i agree with yr last sentiment. the shouty animal collective is my animal collective
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