Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

“There was a dancer who was high in a field from her movement.” So begins “In The Flowers,” the opening track on Animal Collective’s spiraling behemoth of an album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, and rarely has there been a lyric which has so accurately prefaced the sound of the entire record to follow. In the past, the group’s albums have been dominated by fearless experimentation, rejection of typical song structures, and unpredictable bursts of sound which listeners have dubbed either brilliant or unlistenable. And while Merriweather retains much of the group’s past experimentation, it is also largely a break from their typical sound: at first listen, the album sounds suspiciously like a dance record, with its sparkling (and, production-wise, immaculate-sounding) synthesizers and throbbing electronic percussion. But where most dance records are shallow and relatively straightforward, Merriweather is anything but: for every rave-like explosion or soaring chorus, there’s a slow-burning, dissonant number waiting in the wings not far behind. But, perhaps, the biggest surprise about the album is how consistent it is: where past Animal Collective albums have been largely hit-or-miss affairs, the only reason the weaker songs sound weaker here is because the peaks the band hits are Everest-sized – “In The Flowers,” (which features some of the group’s strongest lyrics to date) “My Girls,” “Summertime Clothes,” “Bluish” (which is heartstoppingly beautiful), “Lion In A Coma,” and “Brothersport” are about as close to perfect songs as a band can get, and when the only problem with the rest of the songs is they simply aren’t perfect, the result is an album the likes of which most bands only dream about making.

Rating: 9.0
Track picks: “In The Flowers,” “My Girls,” “Summertime Clothes,” “Bluish”

- Will Preston