Merriweather Post Pavilion [VINYL]

Nine albums into their career, and Animal Collective have finally struck gold. Not that they struggled to turn up riches before: on the contrary, their career has been pretty fruitful. But Merriweather Post Pavilion finds the group--here represented by three of their four members, Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and Geologist--ditching the gloopy guitars of Strawberry Jam, enlisting a new collaborator (Ben Allen, a US hip-hop engineer who worked on Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”, who supplies pleasingly thick crests of bass) and embracing a new, sunny dancefloor bounce that owes little to chemical abandon and everything to the warm rush of a natural high. A good share of songwriting duties are handled by Panda Bear, meaning portions of this record--including its two highlights, “Brother Sport” and “My Girls”--recall the Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies and bubbling electronics of his remarkable 2007 solo album Person Pitch, albeit with a slightly more upbeat spring in its step. Other stand-out moments come with the bubbling, lovestruck “Summertime Clothes” and “In The Flowers”, drifting Pink Floyd whimsy that explodes into a romping, streamer-waving carnival mid-way through. But Merriweather is a treat throughout, essential to fanboys and newcomers alike. –– Louis Pattison

Merriweather Post Pavilion is the ninth studio album from Animal Collective, recorded with Ben Allen in Oxford, Mississippi. After listening to this record, however, it's clear that Animal Collective have transcended the everyday realities of numbers, locations and people and arrived at a spectacular, unique place. Animal Collective have made a universal record that makes the same beautiful sense on headphones by day, or soundtracking the small hours of the morning / night, or, you suspect, stretched out in a field on your back. Whether a state of mind, or a rest stop somewhere along the way, Merriweather Post Pavilion magnificently redefines your sense of direction.

Merriweather Post Pavilion is, in every sense, a classic album. This record feels like a defining moment for Animal Collective, their generation and these times. Linear, wild and beautiful it's the sound of a band waiting, with arms open wide, to tell you about what they've found. And it's something pretty special.

Domino Recording * 180g * 2 LPs * gatefold * stereo * EU * * *