On Monday my buddy Alex called me and asked if I wanted to go to a listening party for Animal Collective’s newest, Merriweather Post Pavilion. I regretfully declined due to my early working hours of late, but went ahead and had my own debut listening party for the album promptly after hanging up the phone. While I did fall asleep toward the end, I paid close attention to the beginning.
“My Girls” is the second track, and right after it ended I couldn’t get the last line out of my head. It didn’t exactly ruin the rest of my listening experience (until I fell asleep), it just stood out so much that only song four, “Summertime Clothes,” managed to snag my attention back for it’s duration. Then it was right back to singing, “I don’t mean to seem like I care about material things, like a social status. I just want four walls and adobe slabs for my girls,” in my head. Sung prominently by Panda Bear, the rest of the lyrics are just as endearing, showcasing how his wife and daughter are the most important people/aspects in his life.
As far as the music goes, this is as close as I think I’ll get to enjoying techno. Not that it’s so thumping, but it’s definitely repetitive, and the only proper instrument is a keyboard; the rest is programmed. Which is all well and fine, it’s just a departure from my normal intake. The blips that begin the song and continue throughout, fading back and forth between right and left, sound like easing into a blissful dream, their perfectly resonating harmonies gracefully chauffeuring you through your R.E.M. cycle.
I’ll admit I’m really not an enormous Animal Collective fan, but this song is head-bouncingly catchy, even danceable like the best Akron/Family tribal jam ("Ed Is A Portal"), or the occasional Gogol Bordello romp ("Harem In Tuscany").
Clapping along is certainly a good thing.
It should also be noted, in case any of you are daily Pitchfork readers like myself, that I did spy an “On Repeat” bit about this same song in their Forkcast section yesterday. However, my decision for “My Girls” as our song of the day was made upon waking after my personal listening party, two days prior. And while I can’t yet agree that this entire album is “incredibly good,” I can agree that playing this song 10 times in a row won’t hurt you whatsoever.
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5 comments:
very glad you posted this song, ben. i, conversely, went to the listening party here in chicago. Domino Records is going to make automatons out of us yet...
but to the point: this song is gorgeous and i think it's as close as we can get to a collective consciousness right now. can you really want anything more from life than four walls and adobe slabs for your girls?
love this song. in fact, almost every song on Merriweather Post Pavillion contains an epiphany of some kind - i like to call them "holy shit" moments.
so why don't i enjoy the album more? i'm sure, bendy, that the need to get up for work in the morning had a fair bit to do with why you fell asleep towards the end, but i too dozed off and i didn't have to get up for anything. it seems that, having established that absolutely anything - any genre, any noise, any instrument - was at their disposal in the past, they've chosen a very limited spectrum of sound this time out. i should listen to it more before pronouncing judgment, but my snap decision is that they've taken a diverse group of songs and made them all sound like they're coming from underwater.
i guess some people said that about "Kid A" as well.
Jared, I have to say that I really agree with you that this record is fairly similar from start to finish from the perspective of differentiations of sounds. It does sound like everything is coming from underwater.
All in all, there are some killer tracks on this album, but I've been having to force myself to listen to it over and over again to really appreciate it to it's fullest. Not my favorite Animal Collective record by any means but that is not to say that I don't enjoy it.
One thing they have achieved is (arguably) the most infectious chorus ever created. My Girls has literally been driving me crazy as my brain cannot expel it from my head.
chad, you nailed it - arguably the most infectious chorus ever created. it's been in my head all week, and i've caught myself bobbing to it more than three times a day.
i agree, incredibly catchy chorus on this song, one that really sticks in your memory.
Joe, I think he wants social stats more than the adobe slats for his girls... Whooooooo!!!
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