Animal Collective “Merriweather Post Pavilion” Review

It is often difficult to gain a balanced perspective on an album after reading a single summary of the music. Bias can tilt the review, as can personal taste, history and just about everything else that is unique to the person writing it. So in an effort to offer an expanded perspective on the music here are four reactions, four impressions, Four Takes on Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion.

A loop of a robotic voice repeating the phrase “You can dance” greets listeners at the beginning of Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, the bands ninth release, and easily one of the most anticipated records of 2009 for the indie set. And it’s a mantra that fans should take to heart while listening to the album, which is quite dub-heavy, propulsive, and indeed danceable at times. There is an optimistic tone to this album that I was drawn to upon first hearing it, and that has stuck with me through repeat listens—perhaps it was just a desperate need to latch onto anything “sunny” during these cold winter days, maybe it was just the fact that this album became the breezy, dreamy soundtrack to a string of idle days. Whatever the case may be, I’ve been playing this album continually for days, and it has won me over with its textured layers of Beach Boys-influenced buoyant pop, bass-driven dub, jumbled psychedelia, and dynamic sound excursions. “My Girls” is as straightforward and coherent a song that Animal Collective has ever released, and while that might vex fans of the bands more experimental earlier work like Sung Tongs, it’s really hard to deny the appeal of this track, with Panda Bear singing heartfelt lyrics about not caring for superficial things, but still wanting to provide a proper home for his girls. And the band continues the strong start of the record with the bold, innovative “Also Frightened,” my favorite track from the album. It’s five minutes of bliss, despite the unsettling lyrical undertones. Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist are still taking chances musically, albeit slightly smaller ones than earlier in their career, and expanding on the sonic parameters that seem to apply to them, and them only. The second half of the record is a bit more onerous and dense than the slightly more conventional (for Animal Collective, at least) first half, with the lyrics becoming less meaningful and forming more of a collage with the music, and finds the band toying with the boundaries of sound and structure. The result is a captivating sonic experiment that rewards more upon repeat listens, with pliable songs that provide plenty of depth and spectacle. Merriweather Post Pavilion is sure to land on many year end Top Ten lists, despite being released so early in 2009, and deservedly so, for this record delivers on many different levels, and lives up to, and in my mind exceeds, the lofty and often preposterous expectations of the blogosphere. [Erik Thompson]

photo by Adriano Fegundes

I am an avowed opponent of the cult mentality. When Merriweather Post Pavilion was already being hailed as the next coming of Christ by the blogosphere (before anyone had even heard it in its entirety) my immediate reaction was extreme cynicism. Though I try to control my knee jerking, I have had a hot/cold relationship with Animal Collective since their beginning. While the altogether sublime experience that was their set at the Pitchfork Music Festival this past summer was enough to bring me over to their side, I am still not quite ready to drink the Kool-Aid. The band’s Indie deity status aside, I found very little about MPP to dislike. It is a fabulously dense journey through a cyber jungle that is every bit the masterpiece it will surely be lauded for. One should never attempt to assess art in a vacuum, and in the current clusterfuck that is our post-Bush society, Animal Collective’s music is disengaging enough to be considered escapist. In this volatile era I don’t think that young people can afford to “turn on, tune in, and drop out.” I am guilty of it too – being at an AC show is akin to visiting another wonderful planet of lights, colors, and a wholly different language of music. I just hope that in our visits to space we don’t forget about all the problems that we have to sort out down here on Earth. [Jon Behm]

Is this the point in Animal Collective’s career when we have a Radiohead-esqe discussion about distinct periods in their catalog and argue over which was better? Like Radiohead did switching from the guitars of OK Computer and The Bends to the more electronic Kid A and beyond, Animal Collective has left a distinct style (swirling masses of guitars, chants and tribal rhythms) on the great Sung Tongs and Feels to go in a more electronic direction. While they don’t have a defining moment of separation like Kid A, they have been slowly making this transition over the last couple years (to the point where their last tour had no guitar player). Both Panda Bear’s amazing solo album Person Pitch and their last album Strawberry Jam started the more electronic trend that has come to completely encompass their sound on their latest album Merriweather Post Pavilion. One thing that has not changed is that the band writes soaring songs that do little to hide their love of pretty harmonies (namely Brian Wilson) and swirling psychedelic music. One difference the band has made over the years is their transition from twitchy, almost paranoid undertones to a more sunny and optimistic sound. Maybe it is just them getting older and having families, but there are multiple songs on the new record that are downright sunny. The two songs released prior to the album’s release, “My Girls” and “Brothersport” both have blissfully sunny tracks with lyrics that are (for the most part) pretty positive stuff. Other strong tracks include the slow burning ballad “No More Runnin” and the dancey “Daily Routine.” The whole disc is a rousing success and shows how Animal Collective have the potential to put out some amazing music, no matter what the style may be. While I am not sure what my answer would be to the questions posed at the start of the review (Guitars vs. electronics), I do know that no matter what, you can’t argue with the band putting out an album as downright awe-inspiring as Merriweather Post Pavilion. [Josh Keller]

“Brothersport” Hove Festival, Norway, June 2008

“Am I really all the things that are outside of me?” The repetitive gesture in “Taste” offers more than a monotonous vocal loop within an eerie track, it’s suggestive as to an internal conflict that is readily apparent throughout Merriweather Post Pavilion. The album isn’t necessarily a reflection of the increasingly volatile economic and social environment that is the United States, but it does offer numerous personal accounts of struggle and conflict. The repetitive echo of “My Girls” offers similar insight, ringing, “I don’t mean to seem like I care about material things like a social status, I just want four walls and adobe slabs for my girls.” But aside from the thematic aspect of various songs, one that isn’t nearly as focused as these two examples suggest, the blurred soundscape beneath provides the depth and soul of the album—a sound that is as welcoming as it is intense. But to merely say that Merriweather Post Pavilion is beautifully layered isn’t enough, especially considering the source. Each new song fluently accents that which precedes it, offering what could be a single-track album, if only for the fact that splitting it up makes it easier to repeat a favorite moment. “Lion in a Coma” has a wavy didgeridoo that loosely transports the listener from the dense belly of the album to a trio of songs that shine with brilliance. “Lion” enduring a faster pace to maintain energy, “No More Runnin’” calmly allowing the blood to settle, and “Brothersport” tearing everything apart in a conclusive reinterpretation of an amalgam of influence (read: “Brothersport” is pretty much the dopest shit ever). “Am I really all the things that are outside of me?” If art is the ultimate reflection of its creator, “Taste” offers an entirely new meaning – for the brilliance suggested with the presentation of Merriweather Post Pavilion is relative to the creative minds behind it, all of which have just released one of the best efforts ever to bear the Animal Collective stamp. [Chris DeLine]

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Also: Animal Collective @ First Avenue