Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion begins with what has become the band's trademark introduction: a convulsive flush of sound at once machined and organic, falling back slowly onto a straightforward beat, and eventually introducing the featherweight harmonies of Avey Tare (Dave Portner) and Panda Bear (Noah Lennox). This is no surprise, but for Animal Collective the orthodox is so radical that they walk a tightrope between discordance and perfection.
The band has abandoned the sprawling mysticism of Sung Tongs, and some fans may be disillusioned by their increasing tendency toward the electronic, but Merriweather Post Pavilion feels like the logical conclusion of their eclectic experiments - the final point of evolution where various influences have been shaped into a complete picture.
The album's first song, In The Flowers,"" sets Tare's ponderous vocal lines against the backdrop of a looming acoustic guitar, watery synthesizers and background vocals soaked in delay. The song has the busiest drumming ever heard from Animal Collective, but it is soon replaced with the repetitive throb of a kick drum à la Berlin minimal techno; this transition perhaps best shows the array of divergent influences the band successfully combines, as well as their tendency to delicately cross the line between the organic and the electronic.
Animal Collective has had problems reconciling the different musical directions the two singers have taken. The single from Merriweather Post Pavilion, ""My Girls,"" bears the paw prints of Bear; his poppy simplicity, sincere vocals and dramatic structuring are throwbacks to his solo album, Person Pitch.
""Summertime Clothes"" and ""Bluish,"" among others, reveal Tare's bottled enthusiasm and melodic playfulness. On previous albums, the two had difficulty finding a balance - one person's songs would overshadow the other's. Merriweather Post Pavilion, though, allows each member's songs to complement the other's across the album.
Listening to Animal Collective in the past felt like walking into a bazaar: A bunch of different things that didn't fit together were thrown into a big heap. This musical confusion has come to characterize Animal Collective, and it is exactly why most fans, myself included, like the band.
The asymmetry of ""Daily Routine"" shows this reputation the best, as a beautiful song crafted around an organ sample turns into a slow drone, reminiscent of Sung Tongs. The rest of the album is unified in a way that an Animal Collective album has never been before. When Animal Collective songs start coming in crystal clear, it is different, but not necessarily a bad thing.
Sure, some songs on Merriweather Post Pavilion are forgettable. ""Lion in a Coma"" is yet another example of Tare being a little too positive. ""Brother Sport"" sounds like a Vampire Weekend song, but, to Animal Collective's credit, the song is better structured than any Vampire Weekend song.
Animal Collective is a tribute to the biological: The music is fraught with sounds of flowing water, chirping crickets and different textures scraping against each other. The music paints pictures in the imagination of the variety and complexity of life on Earth, and can fill the listener - if he or she is willing - with awe that life exists at all. This album is recommended to those who like going on trips in the woods and to those who want a soundtrack for sunrises.
