Saccharine Sheen

Animal Collective “Summertime Clothes”

1) I’ll be honest with you: I had pretty much given up on these guys. After the initial thrill of discovering Spirit They’re Gone Spirit They’ve Vanished and Danse Manatee circa 2001, Avey Tare and Panda Bear’s path mostly diverged from what I wanted, and what I imagined to be their full potential. There were good songs along the way — “Who Could Win A Rabbit?,” “Grass,” about half of Person Pitch, and “Chores,” but for the most part, their music had come to seem overly indulgent, lazy, or horribly uninspiring. I can’t hear Strawberry Jam as anything other than a failed compromise; a misfire that moved toward more accessible songwriting while leaning hard on the most grating aspects of their distinct aesthetic. I just get this allergic reaction hearing that album — I wish I could isolate exactly what it is that bothers me so much, but I can hardly stand to listen to most of the tracks.

2) I didn’t expect much from Merriweather Post Pavilion, but my immediate response was positive. Very positive, in fact, to the point that I had to wonder how much of my reaction came out of the fact that I was enjoying new music by a band I had almost entirely written off. One or two good songs wouldn’t have such a huge surprise — even their worst records have at least one worthwhile track — but Merriweather was the thing I’d been hoping for since the start of the decade: A record by Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and the Geologist that was tuneful and enjoyable from beginning to end without sacrificing their particular tone and style. The album is not perfect — it’s a bit too long and lags in the middle — but it is by far the best work of their career to date. Simply put, Merriweather Post Pavilion is everything good about the Animal Collective, with barely a trace of their worst impulses. It’s a balancing act, really — disciplined pop and avant chaos, hippie and hipster, electronic textures and quasi-primitive rhythms — there is nothing on the album that wasn’t there all along, but suddenly they’ve got it all figured out.

3) “Summertime Clothes” is essentially a synth pop song with a folk pop melody, done up in Animal Collective drag. It’s about as conventional and straightforward as the band has ever been, but it still feels light-headed, delirious, and disconnected. Avey Tare sings about feeling uncomfortable in oppressive heat, and sneaking out with a someone for a walk as a way of making the most of a sleepless night. His words focus on physical sensation, and the music follows suit, simulating waves of stifling heat, thick humid breeze, and the slightly unreal feeling of empty city streets in the wee hours of the morning. Even when it feels most sticky and wet, the song overflows with pleasure and an overwhelming, utterly joyous sense of both physical and mental freedom, as if all the singer’s neuroses have temporarily disappeared, and he’s just acting on instinct. He seems amazed by himself, by his partner, by the beauty of everything around him. More than that, he seems genuinely grateful.

Buy it from Insound.