Feels

utsider music's crossover cover boys take a giant step towards mainstream accessibility with this album--then jump right over it into the bushes. Having garnered the highest freak honors with their previous album, SUNG TONGS, here they expand from two to four members and take their chirpy call-and-response harmonies to a whole other level, adding a cohesive production that welds all the disparate elements into genuine melodic hooks. The opening track, "Did You See the Words," even has a distinct indie-rock chorus (for a while anyway) in addition to the scattered ivory tinkling and Panda Bear's upper-octave-strained ravings. Not long afterwards they're layering on the war whoops and Beach Boy vocalizing until it all starts rising and falling like the sea, often alongside contrapuntal piano and more robust and full-bodied drum work than previous AC albums. Somehow or other their signature primitivism coalesces into near pop perfection and seldom falters anywhere along its breakneck 52-minute run.|

While critics found it easy to lump Animal Collective in with the freak folk scene after the strumming madness of Sung Tongs, Feels may cause them to revise their opinions -- slightly. First, this is more of a rock record, especially early on; the frequent cymbal crashes and pounding drums leave little doubt. Second, Feels has less of the aimless meandering of many artists in the freak folk scene. AC can, and do, explode at any second, and their whirl of musical ideas -- mostly naturalistic, such as intricate vocalizing or tribal drumming -- can become dizzying, but gleefully so, not in a disorienting way. (Imagine Fiery Furnaces condensing an entire album down to three minutes and you'll begin to understand the sound of the second song, "Grass.") So, while the folk tag has become less of an issue, freak still applies with no doubt. A core strength of the group is its ability to sound invigorated and bracing when exploring territory often surveyed in the past. Rock music can be a constraining form, especially at this late date, but the group sounds freer than ever before, almost as though they've never bothered with rock in their lives, and have only happened upon a bare few LPs before beginning their recording career. (If so, one of those would have been by Mercury Rev, although Animal Collective are much less patient in building to a climax -- "The Purple Bottle" has at least a dozen of them.) As on Sung Tongs, the first half is active, direct, and punchy -- nearly overloaded with production and ideas -- while the second half explores quiet, abstract moods, often with only a few tremulous vocals accompanied by autoharp. ~ John Bush

アニマル・コレクティヴが劇的に覚醒!　前作は僕らの脳内を特異な土着サイケ臭でゆっくりと刺激して、解放へと誘った。しかし今作ではバンドのポップ・サイドが唐突なほどに開花。無邪気?　狂気?　夢?　現実?　トライバルなビートに歓喜のメロディー、さまざまな感覚が交錯して五感をくすぐりまくる新たな実験ポップの桃源郷が誕生。ここまで見事に化けるとは本当に予想以上です。ファン層を確実に広げる快作。
bounce (C)富田 純司