Pugwash News - Portsmouth's Official Student Newspaper

4/5]

To those who have never listened to Animal Collective before, I implore you: look to the vocals. When listening to this EP, they are, as with Strawberry Jam and Merriweather Post Pavillion, something to grip on to. Compared to some of Animal Collective’s previous work, the main vocals are foregrounded in the mix, providing a security to the listener. This security allows you to slowly release yourself into some of the melodies that swirl around them, and to get a foothold with the changes in rhythm and tone, which can be bewildering. Like the other works by this Baltimore based band, their work grows on you, until you come to love the little details in the background – this is definitely an album that works well with a good pair of headphones.

Each of the tracks here have a really defined and specific character to them. Whilst all are obviously made by the same bunch of people, each track is allowed a sense of individuality. ‘What Would I Want? Sky?’ has been getting quite a bit of play on Radio 1 recently, but by far my favourite track is ‘I Think I Can’. Its opening appears to be built out of a green digital bouncy pong ball being hit around a squash court, startlingly insistent drums, and crickets. At the end of the track this resolves itself to a repeated chorus almost sickly sweet in comparison.

The effectiveness of the EP is arguably to do with space. The reverb heavy harmony on ‘Bleed’ creates a sense of a broad chasm, or of some large hall; an effect furthered by little details and percussion clicks which serve to draw the attention out from the central vocal line just enough to stretch the soundscape wide. This wide space allows an hazy atmosphere which can be contracted by the comparatively tight vocal melodies on songs like ‘What Would I Want? Sky’, which, to me, have a strange familiarity in their pop sensibility. Often, this change occurs within the same track, furthering awareness of the wandering tone. Repeated listens cohere this sense of space together, fusing it with your brain. That’s right: this album fuses with your brain.