The ever-changing and simply unclassifiable musical experiment known as Animal Collective has a number of exciting and acclaimed records to its name, and it possesses an admirable restlessness that has kept it from repeating itself. The music is synchronous, fusing folk, psychedelia, electronica, and noise pop, among other genres, in varying proportions. On past efforts, an abundance of ideas solidified the band’s reputation as one of the most inventive acts of the early 2000s. On this new four song EP, Water Curses, the well is starting to run dry.
On the group’s high mark, 2004’s Sung Tongs, the playful words and lush atmospherics were pleasurable. The wall of acoustic guitars, free-falling percussion, and warped sense of humor from multi-instrumentalists/vocalists Panda Bear and Avey Tare was charming and often transcendent. Their ideas were strange but meaningful. They set out to create the sonic equivalent of pure joy, and everything heard on that recording contributed to that exuberance.
More recently, on 2005’s Feels and last year’s Strawberry Jam, their ideas have moved ever further from inspired exuberance and into the realm of the dreaded “weird for the sake of weird.” Those records, and the new Water Curses EP, do maintain some of the aesthetic hallmarks of Animal Collective, and thus their sonic identity. Bear and Tare are distinctive vocalists and lyricists, and as instrumentalists they show an undeniable sense of space and have invented a sonic vocabulary all their own. But where the earlier records focused their talents and impulses into a quirky and unique tapestry, on Water Curses, the ideas no longer signify such.
Song for song, the ideas are more transparent than ever. Sound effects (lasers, whooshes, what have you) simply occur, not for any clear musical purpose, but simply to sound cool. It’s not CocoRosie, but it’s not far off. The actual instrumentation and playing, which since Feels has become increasingly rock and electronica-oriented, is the least inspired music the band has released.
The melodies are less pronounced than ever, often drift off into the ambience, and are quickly forgotten. Perhaps it’s a record that requires time to sink in, but each play leaves the listener with so little that returning hardly seems worth the time. With the occasionally satisfying Strawberry Jam, Animal Collective became a tough call. With the occasionally bearable Water Curses, Animal Collective threaten to lose the plot entirely.
– Mike McGovern
Animal Collective: www.paw-tracks.com
Domino Records: www.dominorecordco.com