Collected Animals

Didn't Avey once say he wanted the band to be called The Painters? Makes me wonder if this is almost a self-titled release...

The title Painting With -- where did that come from?

BW: That started a long time ago as a joke where Dave --

DP: It wasn't a joke.

BW: Well, we thought it was a joke. He had the idea… we were never that series about the name Animal Collective, and for Strawberry Jam, he was like, let's change the band name. And the band name he wanted at that time was the Painters.

[...]

DP: I thought an alternative title to the Strawberry Jam album could have been The Painters, thinking of us as the Painters.

BW: When we send demos to each other we come up with fake bands names or fake albums. And on this one, Noah referenced this old joke -- no offense, Dave -- and said, "Oh, the Painters are back!" And then afterward we started fixating on that word paint. It is very painterly.

The title Painting With -- where did that come from?

BW: That started a long time ago as a joke where Dave --

DP: It wasn't a joke.

BW: Well, we thought it was a joke.

It seems to me that Dave's songwriting (and maybe the whole band's) has become more about "telling" than "showing." Like he's trying to express more in the lyrics than the music. This song is wordy and tangled it's hard to even enjoy the music behind the confusion. And I really like the loops in there!

Though then I look back at something like Did you see the words and that is almost just as wordy but it seems they're used differently. I dunno!

the drinking fountain is open
and all the children must survive
but you look more like a bunch of chickens cooped up and
rats have better lives, deep down inside
deep down inside
our love's beginning in their eyes

...

i have seen white antelopes
i have seen them on the road they're on, the road we're on
i have kissed the friends you know
had to leave you on the road you're on, the road you're on

What is Stanshant's take on all this?

What is Stanshant's take on all this?

jerry wonder wrote:

It seems to me that Dave's songwriting (and maybe the whole band's) has become more about "telling" than "showing." Like he's trying to express more in the lyrics than the music. This song is wordy and tangled it's hard to even enjoy the music behind the confusion. And I really like the loops in there!

Though then I look back at something like Did you see the words and that is almost just as wordy but it seems they're used differently. I dunno!

i agree with you, but i'll point out that you could argue that's often true with avey's songwriting—the lyrics go through complete rewrites after the musical content has been basically finalized. dystw actually kept a bunch of its early lyrics, but the final title never appeared in the 2004 versions, and if you consider that to be the thesis of the song then the original version was "about" something completely different:

wrote:

the drinking fountain is open
and all the children must survive
but you look more like a bunch of chickens cooped up and
rats have better lives, deep down inside
deep down inside
our love's beginning in their eyes

...

i have seen white antelopes
i have seen them on the road they're on, the road we're on
i have kissed the friends you know
had to leave you on the road you're on, the road you're on

if editing results in these large-scale lyrical shifts, i would argue that expressing things with words rather than music has always been important in avey's process. it may be a matter of making the words agree with the music, but the words are clearly not as simple/immediate/disposable as in panda's songwriting

the track is great. my only real complaint is that there could be an amazing panda harmony that comes in the third time avey sings "don't you feel me feel your heart shine" in the chorus (listen - you'll hear it; just imagine panda singing a higher harmony on it). would really give it that extra kick.

yeah i know there just wasn't a strong need to mention that in my post

Bold prediction: Panda's song(s) on the EP will have hocketing

Victor Borge wrote:

Bold prediction: Panda's song(s) on the EP will have hocketing

well
(song spoiler)

Spoiler: show

"though the alternating-syllable structure of “Peacemaker” rather sabotages its swaying, willowy grace" - The Independent

Oh man, I'm loving this version of Jimmy Mack. I know a lot of people will prefer the live version, but I guess I just new pretty early on it would be different. I still think it holds water on the excitement level though. At this point I'm expecting shorter jams on their studio releases.

This is the most evocative Avey's been vocally for a while now and it's great. I love Jeremy's drumming on this and the dancable beat throughout. This is gonna be a song I'll consistently listen to for a while. It reminds me a lot of brothersport.

I'm liking Kinda Bonkers a lot too. I'm really hoping that goalkeeper and peacekeeper will be on the same level.