Post by 3 on Aug 19, 2007 10:56:34 GMT 1
Strange Fruit.
Animal Collective are shy and puzzled. Assembled in Soho's cosy Union Club, the foursome can't understand why people are making such a fuss about Strawberry Jam. Sure they're "psyched" about the album, but not with the consensus that it's their breakthrough pop masterpiece, a work that maintains the wide-eyed wonder and hazy soundscapes of old while ditching the, well, bloody loud screechy noises.
"I think it could be interpreted as a little bit more conventional because we didn't overcrowd the sound with a lot of stuff," says Avey Tare, "but we just wanted every part to count." Rest assured, though, Strawberry Jam is a singular achievement. If you want to be grandiosely "rock pantheon" about it, it marks the point at which AC have developed beyond fascinating experimentalists to secure their place alongside Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and My Bloody Valentine as one of those groups who really did push things forward.
And that title? "The substance and the record are kinda similar - real futuristic but also very organic. And the way light goes through jam," Avey smiles, "is just real sonic-lookin'."
Starting out as teenagers living around Baltimore County, Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist and Deakin began playing together in various loose-knit formations, "living on top of each other and practising every night".
All that had changed by January of this year, when the band reconvened in the Arizona desert to lay down Strawberry Jam. DIY recordings on their own label have given way to a deal with Domino, making them improbable labelmates of the Arctic Monkeys. Relocations have separated them across New York, Washington DC and Portugal, where Panda Bear recently had a child and made the Person Pitch album, a cult hit. "When we started working on new songs," he says, deadpan, "I just felt excited about playing with these guys again rather than doing my… lame crap."
On opener and lead single Peacebone, Avey sings, "It's not my words that you should follow, it's your insight." This is good advice considering that the rest of the song is about dinosaurs and garden hoses, continuing their tradition of enigmatic versifying. "I'm just blending together visual images from different places," he explains. "But it always comes back down to the chorus, which is about having an obsession with the past, which is something I'm not into in terms of culture. Music should be more than just something to stomp to - it should be more interactive. For us it's not always about just writing a good song - we wanna play with your ears in terms of colours and space with sound."
For the time being, though, the songs on Strawberry Jam are toast. The band keep things interesting for themselves by tending not to perform their most recent record live. They're currently touring as a trio, without guitars. Avey wears a slanted b-boy cap and the set consists of new material combined with early songs reinterpreted in an afrobeat hip-hop style. Luckily for those after a dollop of live Jam, the band did play some songs from the album in a Collective session back in 2005 (see above). Nice bit of forward planning on our part, eh?
David Jones 16 August 07
Animal Collective are shy and puzzled. Assembled in Soho's cosy Union Club, the foursome can't understand why people are making such a fuss about Strawberry Jam. Sure they're "psyched" about the album, but not with the consensus that it's their breakthrough pop masterpiece, a work that maintains the wide-eyed wonder and hazy soundscapes of old while ditching the, well, bloody loud screechy noises.
"I think it could be interpreted as a little bit more conventional because we didn't overcrowd the sound with a lot of stuff," says Avey Tare, "but we just wanted every part to count." Rest assured, though, Strawberry Jam is a singular achievement. If you want to be grandiosely "rock pantheon" about it, it marks the point at which AC have developed beyond fascinating experimentalists to secure their place alongside Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and My Bloody Valentine as one of those groups who really did push things forward.
And that title? "The substance and the record are kinda similar - real futuristic but also very organic. And the way light goes through jam," Avey smiles, "is just real sonic-lookin'."
Starting out as teenagers living around Baltimore County, Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist and Deakin began playing together in various loose-knit formations, "living on top of each other and practising every night".
All that had changed by January of this year, when the band reconvened in the Arizona desert to lay down Strawberry Jam. DIY recordings on their own label have given way to a deal with Domino, making them improbable labelmates of the Arctic Monkeys. Relocations have separated them across New York, Washington DC and Portugal, where Panda Bear recently had a child and made the Person Pitch album, a cult hit. "When we started working on new songs," he says, deadpan, "I just felt excited about playing with these guys again rather than doing my… lame crap."
On opener and lead single Peacebone, Avey sings, "It's not my words that you should follow, it's your insight." This is good advice considering that the rest of the song is about dinosaurs and garden hoses, continuing their tradition of enigmatic versifying. "I'm just blending together visual images from different places," he explains. "But it always comes back down to the chorus, which is about having an obsession with the past, which is something I'm not into in terms of culture. Music should be more than just something to stomp to - it should be more interactive. For us it's not always about just writing a good song - we wanna play with your ears in terms of colours and space with sound."
For the time being, though, the songs on Strawberry Jam are toast. The band keep things interesting for themselves by tending not to perform their most recent record live. They're currently touring as a trio, without guitars. Avey wears a slanted b-boy cap and the set consists of new material combined with early songs reinterpreted in an afrobeat hip-hop style. Luckily for those after a dollop of live Jam, the band did play some songs from the album in a Collective session back in 2005 (see above). Nice bit of forward planning on our part, eh?
David Jones 16 August 07