Animal Collective
have brought the celestial down to earth with each record, but they've never sounded simultaneously otherworldly and approachable quite like they do on
Merriweather Post Pavilion
. Their eighth studio LP, it finds them at their best -- straining farther away from conventional song structure and accompaniment, even while doubling back to reach lyrical themes and modes of singing at their most basic or child-like. Where before
AC
expertly inserted experimental snippets into relatively straight-ahead songs,
sees them reach some kind of denouement where pop music ends and pure sonic experience begins -- the sound is the only structure. Dismantling the framework of a pop song almost entirely (but using recurring passages in a very poppy way), the group offer a series of overlapping circular elements, all of which occasionally come together for a chorus but then break apart just as quickly. The music itself, at least what's describable about it, consists of deep bass pulses and art-damaged guitars with overlapping vocal harmonies that rise in a holy chorus. This may sound much like previous
highlights, but where those records seemed like a series of accidental masterpieces -- the type of work that sounds brilliant only because it's been culled from hundreds of hours of tape --
is a perfectly organized record, not a note out of place, not a second wasted. It has the excitement and energy of
Sung Tongs
, the ragged sonic glory of
Feels
, and
Strawberry Jam
's ability to make separate parts come together in a glorious whole. Like the best experimental rockers surging toward nirvana -- from
the Beach Boys
to
Mercury Rev
--
have not only created a private soundworld like none other, they've also made it an inviting place to visit. ~ John Bush