ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
Borne
into record shops upon a staggeringly positive wave of critical opinion
(including, for example, a five star review in Uncut that already posits it as
the album of the year and the highest rating Pitchfork have given a new release
since Arcade Fire’s “Funeral”), “Merriweather Post Pavilion” would have to be
“Pet Sounds”, “The Soft Bulletin” and “Loveless” all rolled into one to avoid
being a disappointment. Unfortunately, it isn’t.
Certainly, there’s something
endearing about Animal Collective’s calliope-like melodies, Wayne Coyne/Jonathan
Donahue-style Neil Young tribute vocals and lumpy but wide-eyed almost-blend of
psychedelia, electronica and good old cosmic American music. However, there’s so
much kitchen sink clutter going on that the songs aren’t always strong enough to
shoulder it.
“My Girls” models a
diffuse, pointillist melody that seems to cohere from a thousand points of
sound, and “Bluish” applies a sharp pop edge to the kind of woozy, hallucinatory
ballad that My Bloody Valentine used to be so good at. When they apply their
arsenal of trickery to a big stomping pop tune, the resultant “Summertime
Clothes” is great, gloriously evoking the spontaneous festivities of an
overheated city night. The album’s other fabulous moment is “Brother Sport”, a
euphoric banging dance tune turned quirky pop song.
Sonically both the vinyl
and the MP3 download bundled with it seem kinda congested, which is no help in
unravelling this complex, multi-layered music. Shame, really, as, for all its
potential, “Merriweather Post Pavilion” sounds like a bundle of lovely ideas
that never really achieve escape velocity.