Album Review: Merriweather Post Pavilion
Listening to the Eighth LPby Freak Folk Band Animal Collective
Jan 21, 2009
Animal Collective made it clear with the May 2008 EP Water Curses that the avant-garde Baltimore band was experimenting with a new sound. But listeners were all but clueless to the nature of the band's newest album, entitled Merriweather Post Pavilion.
Their eighth LP defies all expectations of the band's sound while keeping their base style intact, but the cost of exploring this new sound also rears its ugly head. For the first time in their prolific career, Animal Collective has pieces which could be described as boring, pieces that feature the same beat for minutes and lack some of the quirkiness which Animal Collective fans have come to love.
A Promising Start to Merriweather Post Pavilion
“In the Flowers”, Merriweather Post Pavilion's opener, starts with rippling synthesized effects and a drumbeat that can be best described as soggy, reminiscent of Water Curses' title track. Then lead singer Avey Tare distorts and echoes his voice for a few minutes under arpeggiating keyboards and the same drumbeat.
Then, two and a half minutes into the song, it explodes into Panda Bear's marching-style drums and more synthesizers than thought humanly possible. This continues for another ninety seconds or so before going back to the first part of the song for another ninety.
It seems that Animal Collective is still following their minimalist song structure with maximum instrumentation. They have also put more emphasis on synthesizers rather than guitars, a trend which can be seen as early as in their 2007 masterpiece Strawberry Jam. But what really separates Merriweather Post Pavilion from the band's previous releases is that they now seem to be striving for sonic perfection, which is not very fitting for them.
While Panda Bear argues that this is their best-recorded album, the band's sound practically requires them to be poorly recorded. Avey Tare just doesn't sound the same when everything he sings can be fully understood.
Animal Collective Slowly Growing Accessible
While accessibility is rarely a problem, Animal Collective seems to be suffering as a result of Merriweather Post Pavilion's all-encompassing nature. Avey Tare raps more than he shrieks on the new album, Panda Bear is considerably more conservative with the beats, and Geologist's sampling mostly stays in the aquatic range. It seems at times that the band is playing it safe, repeating one phrase and looping one melody for the majority of a song, which could be a side effect of them moving to the major label Domino.
One thing the album does wonderfully, however, is show off some of the band's quirks. “Lion in a Coma”, despite the rapping, utilizes bizarre didgeridoo sounds and “Taste” clearly has reggae-inspired undertones. All of the songs have their interesting moments, and Merriweather Post Pavilion shows off Animal Collective's quirks like no other, but even the most interesting songs get stale after everything is repeated multiple times with nothing added (no names, “Summertime Clothes”).
5.5/10- Merriweather Post Pavilion isn't a poor album because it has poor ideas. It isn't even a poor album because Animal Collective recorded or executed it poorly. The reason the songs get boring is more derived from the band's tendency to loop their music extensively and not add any substance to the music which was introduced minutes earlier in the song.
Animal Collective is available online on Myspace and on Domino Records.
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