So here I am. Thinking of everything else I could be doing that does not include listening to the never-ending song by the Animal Collective. Forward. Sorry! I really do like them, they are doing "Something Different" and "Breaking New Ground", even. They're interesting, cryptic... in fact, this is the perfect record to add to your collection to prove just how versatile and diverse your tastes are ("SEE, I DON'T ALWAYS GO FOR THE HOOK!")! Maybe I just don't get it. This is the kind of band whose music takes awhile to absorb, more time than a lot of people have.
There really are some stellar tracks on here (emphatic statement). The Animal Collective weave an inescapable sense of euphoria and a dream-like essence throughout each of their songs on Sung Tongs. "Leaf House" and "Who could Win a Rabbit" are amazing. They are about the only tracks I can stand to put on repeat. Now if only I could expand 'amazing' into a paragraph. Lets get the basics down. They are indeed a duo, I think (conflicting sources- that's not the point though so shut up), and their names are Amanda O'Malley and Fred Stipenski, or might as well be, because investing in their individual lives would defeat the facelessness of their art. This is relevant, I swear. At first I was leaning towards giving them a negative review but then as I picked this paragraph back up days after writing the intro and started listening to the CD again, I realized a couple of things.
Alright, from the top: I am grateful that this album isn't anything like Gravy Train (no, I am not adding the 'quirky' exclamation marks), The Rapture, The Faint, or !!!. I'm glad that it's not acoustic, soulful crooning... and I am pleased that it isn't another generic guitar-bass-drums-perturbed male singer outfit and I'm even more pleased that it isn't ... let me think, I could not have covered all the bases... drawn out washing machine rock like Godspeed You Black Emperor!. Anyway, so with that all out there, I have to give this band props for taking the road less traveled, and making something of it that does not turn out to be so terribly assaultive and is not... well, I suppose I have to give a statement on what the album is, now. It's weird, a little unnerving, there are lots of... chorus-y vocals (indistinctive, is how I mean)... and indecipherable lyrics that work to their benefit. The songs are folksy and spacey and pretty, even, and sometimes remind me of the weirder turnings of the Elephant 6 crew, though I agree everybody should stop using "Elephant 6" as a catch-all term.
The worst sentiment this album could evoke is probably "It's just not my thing." If you're looking for something to get lost in, or for background music, or for something that isn't aggressive or frat boy rock, then yeah, Animal Collective, go them. Actually, looking over all the data and taking in everything, and such, about myself and my recent standings with music, I don't see how I couldn't love the Animal Collective. Prepare for a shocker!
