Leaky Faucet - Animal Collective, Beach House etc.

Who: Animal Collective
Title: Fall Be Kind
Release Date: December 8th
Label: Domino
Thoughts: It’s a little odd that the leak of Animal Collective’s latest EP is not the big story of the week. It speaks volumes as to how good the new Beach House record is, though it isn’t a slight on Animal Collective in any way. The Fall Be Kind EP is not just a castoff of also recorded music left on the Merriweather cutting room floor. These five tracks could easily have found placement on their best record to date, or probably on any of their last three albums for that matter. These recordings seem to span the breadth of what Animal Collective have evolved into, mixing the odder sounds that were far more present on their earlier work with the more inviting, pop oriented style of their last two albums. The songs here fit the general rise and fall aesthetic of Animal Collective, slowly building and introducing all the working parts of each song. It’s fantastic to listen to, but it does lack some of the immediate impact and charm Merriweather Post Pavilion introduced us to. To be fair I haven’t spent nearly the amount of time with this as I have with their past albums or that I have with the new Beach House, it’s been a busy week so we’ll have to wait and see how this grows with each successive listen.
Listen: Animal Collective - "Graze"
Animal Collective - "What Would I Want? Sky"