The World of Animal Collective

They have made a lasting contribution and impact to the music culture of our generation, crossing boundaries through their textured, multi-layered sounds and vivid lyrics that seem to capture all your senses at once. They have created a concept and a purpose that does not only include their music but film, visual art and even performance art that was recently exhibited at the Guggenheim in Manhattan. They are Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Avey Tare (Dave Portner), Geologist (Brian Weitz) and Deakin (Josh Dibb) and together they make Animal Collective. This band, in more ways than one, has revolutionized today's independent and electronic music not only with their sound, but with their care for the collaborative musical process and the strong, deep connection they all share with each other that heavily shines through every median of their art. 

They began in Baltimore, Maryland. Four young best friends with a passionate love for creating music. They were heavily influenced by bands such as Climax Golden Twins and Noggin, part of the noise cassette scene in the Pacific North West, and experimental 20th century classical music composers. In an interview Portner said, “Ligeti and Penderecki are on The Shining soundtrack. We had never heard so-called experimental music at the time, we didn’t know that people made music with textures and pure sound. So we started doing that ourselves in high school, walls of drones with guitars and delay pedals and us screaming into mics." After high school, they separated yet maintained their friendships and individually explored different artists and genres sharing them with one another and learning from them seeing where they could take their music next. College turned out to be a difficult period for the four, but in time they reunited in New York City and continued to experiment together, growing closer as friends and evolving as musicians.

From 2000 to 2003 the band released 4 studio albums, "Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished", "Danse Manatee", "Campfire Songs" and "Here Comes the Indian". The first three were released under the names of the specific members who worked on them. ("Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished" under Avey Tare and Panda Bear, "Danse Manatee" under Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist, and "Campfire Songs" under Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist and Deakin.) The impractical length of their names, the constant change of members bewteen projects in combination with the raw, animalistic element in their music led to the name Animal Collective. By this time in their career, their live shows were not just four guys playing instruments on stage but more of a high-energy musical experience. Many were immediately entranced by their almost shamanistic performances where they completely let go physically, vocally and mentally. They would wear animal masks to represent each of their individual names and personas and had no limits when it came to screaming and heavily moving with their music on stage. Deakin described the masks less as a theatrical element but more as something they did for themselves to establish that they were in a "special space". In recent years they no longer play live shows with their masks but still deliver an intense ride with every performance.

Since 2004 they have released "Sung Tongs" (2004), "Feels" (2005), "Strawberry Jam" (2007), "Merriweather Post Pavillion" (2009) with collaborations and EP's in between as well as their 53 minute visual album "ODDSAC". To delve into the history behind each album would take a much more extensive essay and would not satisfy the purpose of this particular post. So if you'd like to learn more here is a very descriptive article about their evolution as a band. 

What I would like to focus on is the unique quality of Animal Collective's music and their ability to capture sensations, texture and color through their sound and vivid imagery in their lyrics. I will begin with a section of the following song "Did You See the Words". It is the first track from their 2005 release "Feels" (My personal favorite.) which all four were a part of.

 

  

 The song begins with a low drone over sounds of children laughing. Mellow guitar accompanied by a haunting piano riff takes you into a peaceful, atmospheric haze that is continuously felt throughout the album. Avey Tare begins to sing quiet with excitement, almost in a secretive tone: 

Have you seen them?
The words cut open
Your poor intestines
Can’t deny
When the inky periods drip from your mailbox and
Blood flies, dip and glide, reach down inside
Grab inside
There’s something living in these lines...

And when your newest kisser is peeking
You dress yourself up tonight
Get all tangled up in arms and legs, it’s cramped up and
Someone grabs a hold, do you go oh oh oh!?
Should you go home?
There's something starting, don’t know why...

The calmness is broken with a sudden movement in the melody along with the lyrics "reach down inside", almost taking you through the progression of his thoughts like a wave, reaching down inside with him. In the second verse, which I believe is describing the elation you feel with a new love, that same wave of melodic motion repeats itself with "Some one grabs a hold do you go oh!?" perfectly capturing that sensation of surprise when the one you love touches you (emotionally or physically) for the first time, sparking an attraction. "Should you go home? There's something starting don't know why." continues this enthusiasm and an excitement of a new beginning and not knowing what it brings. Then the song builds and gains intensity as Avey's vocals raise in volume and emotion:

And in a house so cozy
Few words are spoken
Let’s take our shoes off and unwind
When there’s minuets off in the background drowning out
Eyes off, ears off, test the kiss goodnight
A kiss goodnight
Dont keep my loving on my mind.

The way this song intensifies through each thought in the lyrics is just one example of how Animal Collective utilizes every element of a song to not only allow the listener to understand the song but to make them physically feel it. In many interviews, they have expressed that they often take their perceptions of sound, weather, colors, imagery and emotions and write music that can bring that perceptive experience to whoever is listening. "Did You See The Words" not only exhibits this experience but also shows the unique train of thought their lyrics almost always take you through.

Here is another song from the same album entitled "Banshee Beat". It maintains the same naturalistic fluidity and earthy mellowness as "Did You See the Words" yet expresses the loss of a strong relationship with another person and the mental storm of memories that follows. "Banshee Beat" begins very slowly expressing meditative thoughts  on the time there will be in the future to mourn the end of their connection. It then quickly enters the flow of events and issues that brought them to the present. The description of specific memories one after another regardless of chronological or linear order represents the natural journey our mind takes when trying to figure out something so impacting like the termination of a relationship.

But I don't wish that I was dead

A very old friend of mine once said
that either way you look at it you have your fits
I have my fits but feeling is good
confusions not a kiddney stone in my brain
but if were miscommunicating do we feel the same?
Then either way you look at it you have your fits
I have my fits but feeling is good
You gotta give a little you gotta get a little bit

The song ends with somber lyrics indicating the defeat of not being able to do anything but move on. Regardless of these melancholy thoughts and frustration, being alive and feeling them in the first place is better than not even being present to experience it at all.

 Despite the fact there is heavy evolution that occurs with their music as every new album is released, Animal Collective continues to maintain the same impact and passion they began with. In "Strawberry Jam" you can hear a greater use of heavier sounding, electronic instruments that contribute to a much more chaotic tone. Once again this air of clashing and hectic fervor is established from the beginning of the album and continued throughout giving each album a world of its own. The continuous chaos within the album is well manifested in the following song "For Reverend Green": 

For Reverend Green

From one moment to a next,
reading in the papers to know what’s best
Sometimes you don’t know yourself,
eating loads of vitamins for your health
From one moment to a next,
red negativity in the street
Maybe it’s the earth, maybe it’s the heat
A baby on the bus smiled at me so easy

A pulse like static bleeds into a bright atonal chord progression and begins the first verse in which Avey speaks of the constant chain of events occurring within each moment in time. Avey maintains a tense, restless voice throughout out the song only becoming more clashing with the instruments accompanying him. He describes the belief that reading a newspaper can inform you of the truth or the belief that a vitamin can satisfy all your body's needs. However, it seems we are unable to look beyond the limits of a newspaper and are unaware of what our own bodies truly require. We attempt to take care of these uncertainties with quick solutions. Then in another moment "red negativity" is present within the city he walks in and he cannot specify a cause. Nevertheless amidst this "red negativity" a baby smiles at him with ease and no knowledge of anything that is happening in his world.

Now I think it’s alright that we’re together
Now I think that’s a riot
Now I think it’s the best we’ve ever played it
Now I think that’s a riot
Now I think it’s alright to sing together
Now I think that’s a riot
Now I think it’s alright to feel inhuman
Now I think that’s a riot

A running child’s bloody with burning knees
A careless child’s money flew in the trees
A camping child’s happy with winter’s freeze
A lucky child don’t know how lucky she is

With each lyrical progression in the song Avey reflects his rising frustration through his increasingly sharp and loud vocals, almost communicating a sense of needing to let go o escape which seems to be finally met when Avey begins to sing the melody in unison with the music. "For Reverend Green" is an example of Animal Collective's unique and fearless expression of sound regardless of how startling it sounds or how uneasy it makes someone feel. 

Animal Collective has definitely proven that there are no boundaries when it comes to their art. Their complex friendship, their wild imaginations and their passion for expressing every aspect of their being through music has allowed a unique world of their own to flourish. They are a group that has a lot to communicate to the world and more ways than one to do it.