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December 1st, 2008
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Out of the woods

The unpredictable Animal Collective roars into town
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October 8th, 2008 issue

By Patrick Sisson

COURTESY PHOTO
Not nearly as scary without the animal masks and musical pyrotechnics, the band is making its Prague debut.
Animal Collective


When: Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 8
Where: Divadlo Archa
Tickets: 390 Kč in advance, 490 Kč at the door, available through Ticketpro, Ticketportal and at the venue
For the Post
Beating out tribal rhythms, taking assumed names and, occasionally, especially in the early days, slipping into homemade animal masks, the members of Animal Collective give the indie rock world a shot of feral intensity. Both as a collective and in smaller groups, band mates Avey Tare, Geologist, Deakin and Panda Bear fashion music out of skewered pop melodies, frayed tone poems and churning drums, layering vocals that are alternately screeched, brayed, spoken, whispered or screamed. Whether conjured in a forest clearing at midnight or, more likely, a club stage, these are ritual sounds for a digital age.
It’s not pageantry or pretension but a shared sense of play, combining tones and textures like so many liquids emulsifying in a jar, that animates Animal Collective. One could easily glean psychedelic motives from their music, particularly on the latest album, Strawberry Jam, a set of rapid-fire visuals, sugar-sweet harmonies and an elevated heartbeat of chugging drums. But it’s more about the possibilities and byproducts of crossing waves of noise and pop, which often sound like they’re battling for the forefront.
Strawberry Jam’s cover photo — blood-red juice oozing from the seeds and skin of translucent, trampled fruit — is evocative of the music inside. In an interview with Pitchfork last fall, Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) said that he wanted the album to sound like that image: “Sweet, tangy stuff, but it also has this real sharp quality to it.” While the final product still sounds wild, there’s a process at work, not mass-produced but delicately hand-crafted.
Now a global communal concern with members spread out from Brooklyn to Lisbon, Portugal, Animal Collective emerged from Baltimore, Maryland, where all four musicians attended the same high school. Avey Tare (David Portner) and Panda Bear, friends since 1992, played together on the first release, Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished, released on their own Animal Label in 2000. After Geologist (Josh Weitz) and Deakin (Josh Dibb) joined the group, they released a string of albums — including Here Comes the Indian, Sung Tongs and Feels — which blended together differing degrees of psych, folk and noise, balancing earthiness and experimentation. Collaborations with artists ranging from the caustic Black Dice to rediscovered folk singer Vashti Bunyan, and the roster on the band-curated label Paw Tracks, underscore the collective’s diversity.
Last year’s Strawberry Jam, recorded in the Arizona desert, and the recent companion EP Water Babies, released this past May, have been lauded as being both more accessible and experimental. Coming on the heels of Panda Bear’s swooning, echo-laden Person Pitch album from 2007, it evokes a certain sunniness amid the soaring singing, weird vocal tics and sonic strain. “Peacebone” is a forced march through squirming samples, cartoon sound effects and melodic screams. The lilting piano of “Fireworks” floats on liquid soundscapes, while “Water Curses” bounces with intensity and booming, tympani-like beats. It’s music that’s a bit unsettling, but gorgeous and infectious.
The band’s upcoming show at Archa, their first in the Czech Republic, should feature some of these oddball pop gems along with reinterpretations of old songs. Typically, Animal Collective also plays tracks from their forthcoming album, this one rumored to be set for release in early 2009. They often work out new material on the road, which makes the timing of this concert particularly good. As Avey Tare once said about the group’s live shows, “We bleed the edges together.”
Patrick Sisson can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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