The album is positively wet with luscious sound to the point where it almost transcends the feelings music usually leaves us with. It buzzes and hums like electrical sparks in water puddles. It moves -- if it's possible for music to physically move -- with life and color that so few albums can seem to achieve. The delivery goes from coarse and overt to smooth and subtle, constantly shifting through organic and artificial textures. The music personifies even further as it doesn't tender to wait on us to listen. It pushes forward, holsters our attention, and then retreats into self reflection. It literally feels as though it is a living, breathing thing with a personality and feelings. Something about that heightens the stakes of the album and makes you actually care about the music.
This is something that has been severely lacking in the music world. Sure I'm listening to your record, and I enjoy the hooks and the musical grandeur, but why should I care? Should I care because you ask me to? Should I care because you're the latest and greatest up-and-coming indie band and you have a killer merch table? Lucky for Animal Collective, they are one of the greatest up-and-coming indie bands around, but that's probably for a reason. They make music that's worth caring about. It's obvious they put their hearts and souls into the music because the music itself has a heart and soul. It's not a perfect creation, but then what living today is perfect? If anything, it makes the experience all the more real, and you can almost imagine the music being crafted by three mad scientists in lab coats (and if you've seen Animal Collective live, it aint far from the truth).
I will admit, this isn't exactly an instantly accessible record -- especially if you haven't heard any of the bands' other material. But I think that if you open your mind and your heart to it, and really take it in, Feels has the potential to be a truly wonderful experience for the listener. I mean if nothing else at least it's not some obnoxious Lady Gaga song about muffin tops or whatever.
Now on to the Fall Be Kind EP -- I have a tendency to do this thing where I burn a CD, and since there's just so much space left on most discs, I like to *squeeze* an EP on there to fill the void. And what better mash than Feels + Fall Be Kind EP? It is quite a good combination. If you listen to them back to back, you'd be surprised how well they mesh together. I've even been fooled into thinking there was a sixth song on Fall Be Kind only to realize it was just "Did You See the Words" on my iTunes playlist.
Anyways, the Fall Be Kind EP has so much to offer in such a short amount of time. It makes you wish that this were a full album. Well, what you really wish is that there were a full album release coinciding with this EP. Something I can't stand is when bands make EPs that have nothing more than a few songs from their upcoming album and a few remixes or something. AC is smart here and gives us songs that fit together as cohesively as an album, only shorter. And I doubt that any of these tracks are going to be remixed or rebirthed on Untitled Animal Collective Album (TBA). Which is, needless to say, comforting; realizing that this is a work all its own allows us to treat it as such, and not *just* a smash-in tag-along to Feels, MPP, or Strawberry Jam.
Not that the album necessarily covers more ground than any of the albums. I think more than anything it's a supplementary work to add depth to their already existent catalog. This added depth doesn't just benefit the hardcore fans either. I think anyone new to Animal Collective could easily grab this EP as a starter and immediately know what they're in for. Besides, isn't that the whole point of EPs -- a quick release that gives people an affordable way to give the music a try? Plus with tracks like "Graze" and "Bleed", what a magnificent way to start the Animal Collective journey. You get a really good variety of moods and tones from a very small amount of songs, and yet it still blends and runs together brilliantly. I may be getting ahead of myself, but for my money AC is the best band out there to make their music so deliberately for the benefit of the listener without diminishing upon their craft.
Anyways, the Fall Be Kind EP has so much to offer in such a short amount of time. It makes you wish that this were a full album. Well, what you really wish is that there were a full album release coinciding with this EP. Something I can't stand is when bands make EPs that have nothing more than a few songs from their upcoming album and a few remixes or something. AC is smart here and gives us songs that fit together as cohesively as an album, only shorter. And I doubt that any of these tracks are going to be remixed or rebirthed on Untitled Animal Collective Album (TBA). Which is, needless to say, comforting; realizing that this is a work all its own allows us to treat it as such, and not *just* a smash-in tag-along to Feels, MPP, or Strawberry Jam.
Not that the album necessarily covers more ground than any of the albums. I think more than anything it's a supplementary work to add depth to their already existent catalog. This added depth doesn't just benefit the hardcore fans either. I think anyone new to Animal Collective could easily grab this EP as a starter and immediately know what they're in for. Besides, isn't that the whole point of EPs -- a quick release that gives people an affordable way to give the music a try? Plus with tracks like "Graze" and "Bleed", what a magnificent way to start the Animal Collective journey. You get a really good variety of moods and tones from a very small amount of songs, and yet it still blends and runs together brilliantly. I may be getting ahead of myself, but for my money AC is the best band out there to make their music so deliberately for the benefit of the listener without diminishing upon their craft.
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