Well, its a new month. Time to see if anyone actually participated in my latest project: Album Club. As you know, the inaugural album for the club was Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion. I’ll say a few words about what I thought of the album, and then I invite anyone of you who listened to it to post your own impressions in the comment section. So, here is what I thought:
I am not a huge dance music fan. Oh sure, I love to dance (mostly in the privacy of my own home, as Theresa can certainly attest), but I don’t need to be constrained by any particular musical genre specifically designed for the purpose. So, I usually pass on pretty much any band whose live performances prominently feature one or more people hunched over an electronics consul. That being said, I really enjoyed MPP. And given my initial reservations, really says something about the music’s quality.
Despite being mostly electronic, MPP mostly feels soft and human. I think this has a lot to do with the subject matter of it its songs and how Animal Collective uses its music to convey the corresponding mood. The music was quite complex and layered, and as hard as I think about it, I can’t name any particular aspect of their sound that really stood out. Really, it was how all the parts come together and the feelings the songs convey more than what was actually going on in the music. For me, this is an album about simple pleasures, most of which come from family life. Highlighted by the amazing “My Girls,” MPP is to me about finding all of the little joys of a humble life with your wife and kids, without worrying about comparatively unimportant matters like your social status. Of course, I am coming from a point in my life where I have a wife and will probably be increasing my brood soon, so this vantage point may be affecting my interpretation of the album. But, listening to songs like Brothersport, I can’t help but imagine myself and a young son dancing wildly around the livingroom without any shirts on (why no shirts? I don’t know, but is seems to me that little toddler boys seem more natural with no shirts on). Also, the song “Summertime Clothes” reminds me to no end of Theresa and my summer in Palo Alto, where one night seemed to play out exactly as the song describes, with our much-too-hot apartment prompted us out of doors for a pleasant stroll in the middle of the nigh. And because that summer was also the most domestic situation we have yet found ourselves in, with me working and Theresa at home, the domestic bliss theme just seems all the more solid. These last two ideas probably say much more about myself than the music, but shouldn’t art lead us to discover a little something about ourselves? Using this self-realization theory of artistic merit as a judge, MPP is amazing.
Of course, using the more basic theory of musical quality – i.e. do you enjoy listening to the music – Animal Collective’s latest album is a solid winner. There are some amazing songs on this album that are a pure joy to listen to – and of course, to dance to. My only (minor) complaint is that some of the songs seem to go on a little too long, but this is probably because of their nature as dance music. Otherwise, MPP is an spectacular album, and I like to think that it represents the sound of music to come: made with machines, but as affecting as anything that has come before.
Filed under: Album Club | Tagged: Animal Collective, merriweather post pavilion
[...] AC1: Merriweather Post Pavilion [...]
To start off with I should say that I’m new to Animal Collective and I also don’t have a lot of listening experience within whatever genre Animal Collective fits, so bear that in mind as you read my review. However, I did enjoy Merriweather Post Pavilion.
First thing I want to say about the album is that the album artwork is remarkable. It is a veritable feast for the eyes; very colorful and unique.
Now as I get to the music I need to add another little preface here. When I listen to new music for the first few times the lyrical content plays very little into how much I enjoy the music. For me the voice is first, an instrument and second, a storyteller. Eventually the lyrics become important to me, but initially I have a hard time paying attention to what is actually being said. While I’m trying to learn to pay more attention to the lyrics, for now this is the way it is and my review will reflect that.
Okay. What struck me about MPP was the complexity of the music. Every song had a lot going on in it, which could have been disastrous, but in this case Animal Collective definitely appeared to have the talent to make every piece of the music belong where it was at. My favorite song of the album, My Girls, was an excellent example of this complexity. And in this song it was also quite transparent. The song begins with little instrumentation and gradually adds more and more layers of music with each layer contributing to rather than detracting from the experience of the song. Excellent song.
As Randal noted, the album was very electronic and yet very real and earthy. I use the adjective earthy because, for me, the music often inspired some very beautiful natural imagery. For example, in In The Flowers the music caused me to imagine myself exploring some sort of swampy wilderness on a starry night. Call me weird, but I like when a song evokes something in me. Several of the songs incorporated an effect that sounded like water dripping in a cave. And Lion In A Coma had some didgeridoo in it and didgeridoo always says nature to me.
In all there were some fun songs, some reflective songs, some very melodic songs, some songs that were a little too long and repetitive for me, and some songs whose combination of sounds, while skillfully produced, I did not find particularly enjoyable. My favorites were My Girls, it was very melodic and creative; Summertime Clothes, it made me happy; Bluish, the vocals stood out to me in this one; Lion In A Coma, fun song, made me happy; and No More Runnin’, lots of emotion and a very melodic and memorable chorus.
In summary, the positive points included the mostly complex and melodic music, plenty of enjoyable songs, great album artwork, and great musical imagery. The negative points included some songs whose parts didn’t fit together as well as I would have liked, some songs that were overly repetitive and the fact that, in general, the album departed from my typical musical genre preferences. Perhaps that last point seems unfair but, like it or not, the degree of enjoyment I experience is greatly influenced by the degree of departure I perceive from my typical musical cuisine. But overall, I enjoyed Merriweather Post Pavilion and give it 3.5 stars out of 5.
[...] Merriweather Post Pavilion. To see Randal’s review of the album see the post here. My review is in the comments section of that post and I will also post it here on my blog [...]
[...] us to the cutting edge of modern music. (Read my analysis of the album and contribute your own here.) I thought that with our second choice, we should listen to a brand new album from a band who is [...]
[...] lets let the music do the talking. We have already featured Merriwheather Post Pavilion. Now, lets listen to Veckatimest and decide which each of us [...]
[...] took us to the cutting edge of modern music. (Read my analysis of the album and contribute your own here.) I thought that with our second choice, we should listen to a brand new album from a band who is [...]
[...] lets let the music do the talking. We have already featured Merriwheather Post Pavilion. Now, lets listen to Veckatimest and decide which each of us [...]