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“Fireworks” – Animal Collective
(Words/music: Animal Collective, available on Strawberry Jam, Domino 2007)

Right now, the internet is abuzz about Merriweather Post Pavilion, and for good cause.  The latest Animal Collective album combines the odd vocals and unconventional sounds with some increasingly cohesive songwriting.  It’s (after only a couple listens) a challenging record that manages to reveal just enough in interesting sounds and textures on the first listen yet reveal more of itself after time.  This is the type of record that people are going to have strong opinions about all year long (and, to a lesser degree, beyond that point), and in that sense the band’s succeeded – art (and some will argue that this is art) should evoke strong opinions and should not receive universal praise or condemnation.  It’s better to be loathed passionately than to be ignored, and Merriweather Post Pavilion will bring Animal Collective to many new ears, prompting the numbers on both sides of the argument to swell.

One of the common threads in the discussion of the new record discusses how the new set of songs are exactly that – songs – as opposed to the sometimes meandering, dissonant, and anarchic recordings in their early catalogue.  Those championing the record are calling it a satisfying blend of craft and chaos; many of these songs have a structure and melodic thread holding it together while still letting the experimental flourishes stray away just enough.  Personally, I’ve started to find the last couple Animal Collective albums listenable; I realize that I’m a song-first person in that I’m a sucker for well made compositions.  “Fireworks” was the first moment that I found myself drawn into an Animal Collective song, perhaps because it’s the first Animal Collective song where I’ve been drawn in by the arrangement.  The percussion running through the song sounds like it’s on the brink of caving in the entire time (perhaps it’s the triple meter or perhaps it’s different layers) yet it stays consistent the entire song.  Different melodic phrases enter – the toy piano, the wordless background vocals, and the muddy electric guitar among others – and exit throughout the song, but their reoccurrences bring a certain familiarity (as well as a hypnotic quality) to the song.  Avery Tare’s vocals shift between calm singing and impassioned yelling, but utilize the same melodic phrase throughout the whole song.  On paper, the song sounds like it’s a droney trance track, but the different combination of these melodic pieces in different layers keeps the song sounding interesting.  Additionally, when something deviates from the standard phrase – usually Tare’s vocals either by moving to a half time feel or shifting into the polarizing yelp from earlier Animal Collective records – new textures are born.  Even Tare’s yelp fits the song well – where an entire song of screams might not fit my taste, a few instances offer something new into the mix.

I’m not saying that I’m a convert (far from it), but the band’s recent output starting with “Fireworks” has my attention.

More on Animal Collective: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm