Animal Collective refines style with new album

By Aitor Zabalegui

Animal Collective has created a reputation that places the band beyond experimentalism.

It's also hard to call the band influential, because nobody seems to be able to build upon, let alone follow, the high quality music it produces with each album.

Fans have come to expect the band to reach to the deepest corners of the musical chasm, only to dig deeper, creating unrestrained sonic arrangements that could not be seen as anything but impossibly innovative.

This type of hype has followed the development of "Merriweather Post Pavilion," the new album from the Baltimore-based collaboration between David "Avey Tare" Portner, Noah "Panda Bear" Lennox, Josh "Deakin" Dibb and Brian "Geologist" Weitz. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Panda Bear said that this is the band's "best recorded album."

However, pushing musical boundaries tends to lead to conflicts in taste, as not everyone is enamored with eight-minute loops, random droning noises or long and whiny vocal harmonies.

Whereas previous albums were almost tedious, "Merriweather" shows Animal Collective at its most structured.

Songs that can best be described as psychedelic dance-pop have clear hooks, bright choruses and shimmering codas that even previously estranged critics must acknowledge as concise and catchy.

The once random atmospheric noises are still there, but now actually complement the songs, creating an easier listening experience while still delivering the ground-breaking material fans expect.

The opening track, "In the Flowers," starts with a slow build that submerges the listener into a bubbly underwater ambiance, leading to an invitation of sorts as Panda Bear whimpers, "If I could just leave my body for the night," issuing forth a barrage of heavy bass and floating melodies that sound like a submarine symphony.

The foundation of the album is the synchronization of the vocal harmonies. Whether Avey Tare or Panda Bear are taking lead or providing background vocals, their differing styles have never blended so well. Their Beach Boys-like harmonies are showcased on "My Girls," which takes a growing-up lyrical approach that continues as a theme throughout the album with Panda Bear confessing, "I just want four walls and adobe slabs for my girls."

The album's best song, "Summertime Clothes," avidly gushes along to distorted hand-clap synthesizers and interlaying melodies which needlessly accentuate Tare's very simple desire: "I want to walk around with you."

When Tare actually gets the girl, though, he's none the less straightforward.

In "Bluish," the album's premier ballad, he urges to "keep on your stockings for a while." The lyrics are not meant to be interpreted, but rather they are merely real life observations amidst the psychedelic landscape of the music.

The closing track and first single, "Brother Sport," is easily the most joyous track on the album with tribal drums, pan flutes and a fervent chant to "open up your throat!"

The Afro-beat culminates into a sautéed arrangement of wails, sirens and effervescent sounds that together encapsulate an uninhibited ecstasy which demands to be experienced on headphones. The lyrics reaffirm this blissful sense of letting go as Panda Bear howls, "You've got so much inside / Let it come let it come right out."

Animal Collective is a very distinct band that forges its own paths and is always on the cusp of pioneering new genres. While "Merriweather" does not feel like entirely new territory, the band has refined their approach into a more complete and rewarding experience.

Grade: A-

Contact Aitor Zabalegui at azabalegui@scu.edu or (408) 551-1918.