With nine studio albums behind them, Animal
Collective can be forgiven for releasing the odd single here and there
without any revealing album plans. Their latest venture sees the release of two
tracks, Honeycomb and Gotham, with a June release date. There isn’t
a set date for Animal Collectives 10th studio album, however well circulated
interviews report for a late 2012 winter release. Firstly, I'm glad they haven’t
released one of their most publicised new tracks 'Knock You
Down'. This will no doubt find its place at track two on the upcoming
album.
I seriously advise you to listen, listen again, listen again, listen again,
listen again, listen a couple of more times and then listen again before
judging this track. It’s the same old story with the majority of AnCo's back catalogue,
this isn’t easily accessible and the layers of beeps and bloops only minimize
and destabilize the bands wider audience after Merriweather Post Pavilions critical success. It’s not the
longest of tracks at three minutes in length, but it does show great
musicianship of what’s to come from Animal collective in the future. The
spiralling introduction and musical breaks give AnCo some sort of Battles-esque
sound. This track mixes math rock with their extensive experimental rock with
the use of electronics, loop pedals and reverb. The track is ultimately claustrophobic
and has so much going on that pausing the track half way or one third way in
would be a major mistake. If you pause at 1.47 for instance, then resume play,
you're met with a speedy vocal and a raising keyboard riff, with background
swirls and percussion... You're well and truly lost.
~Eddie
