Animal Collective

Fall Be Kind

(Domino)

SOUNDS LIKE: More joyful weirdness from the masters of experimental indie pop.

Oh, Animal Collective are still weird, alright. And no matter how many ridiculously accessible hooks they throw into their skewed, free-flowing mixes-and there are plenty-you can't blame anyone for being turned off by oddity of it all. Fall Be Kind doesn't do anything to change that. But for those who revel in the strange joy of the band's bizarre twists and euphoric climaxes, the five-track EP is a must-own. In fact, though the tunes are supposedly rejects from the Merriweather Post Pavilion sessions, it's hard to see why they didn't make the cut. From the bright, sweeping textures and Latin-ish pipes of "Graze" through to the rumbling bass and endlessly layered vocal loops of "I Think I Can", Fall Be Kind is full of moments that could easily have been included-even on a record many are calling one of the best of the year.

By Adam Bunch

Courtesy of soundproofmagazine.com