Collected Animals

Leogan wrote:

I must be the only one who thinks these lyrics have absolutely nothing to do with Animal Collective. Noah has 2 kids and an entire life outside of his work.

Thank you.

It’d be boringly meta for Noah to constantly write solo songs about the songs he writes with other people. AC fandom seems to color literary analysis as a prophetic yet othorodox tool that untangles the threads of AC’s fate while ignoring the poetic and archetypal associations imbued in their writings. The way AC writes music is rich in image; read their lyrics the same.

I posted this in the lyrics section, but since peeps be talking of the lyrics here I thought I'd copy it into here. Here is my take on the lyrics.

Panda Bears lyrics have all seemed like cryptic alchemical formulas to me. He is consistently taking something lowly like trash, then alluding to something more precious. I've seen it in numerous past songs, but it is also all over this EP. Part of the math for example:

You're an effigy
And a wrapper in a plastic bag
We're all dieties
Washed up in a sewage freebird

Where was I

A flowered shrine
A cussing bum
A crystal shine
In a pool of scum
A dream so real
That your vision's gone

An animal
A mineral
A vegetable
An abacus

Part of the Sophia myth of the gnostics, is that you have to look for her in the dung heap. That the divine is constantly right before your eyes in the unlikeliest places as the trash and waste. This was a huge theme in the ideas of the alchemist, turning shit into gold. Like the scene from holy mountain where the guy turns his own shit into gold. Also the animal, mineral vegetable part is on this old alchemical illustration I came across in a book I have,

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pqwP11L0Cgo/ ... %2529.jpeg

Nod to the folks touches on these ideas as well:

Nod to the folks
Keeping us close
Up to the gods
Evens and odds
Refining ore
Anyone's joke
Wriggling to be
Free from the yoke

Here we have mention of parents (parental conditioning), mention of gods, refining ore (turning shit to gold), and then struggling to break from the the yoke (struggling to break outside of parental conditionings or just wordy conditionings all together or human condition).

Hid from the light
In a garbage can

Another reference to finding divinity within the trash. There are also more references in this song.

Take a chance
And try to
Break away

Another reference of trying to break free in sunset. Also the lyrics to lying in the grass really allude to these ideas. Here are some lyrics I pulled from lying in the grass:

There’s a way through fogs as long as there’s a light to discover (it)

It’s a gut that fears all things unknown
and a link within the brain you know

Not a shame to say the instincts there
but a virtue to deny the bait

Know the cause and move to gauze and deftly
tratar o sangue (clean up the blood)

In the law there’s room to move
as there’s a need to uncover it

As a choker sucks, let’s sift through the muck and lift this dingy veil
same old tale

Get mixed in this crippling fixture
Try and approach the hidden mixtures
Get mixed in this crippling fixture
Try and approach the hidden picture it

For a misplaced stash, let’s search through the trash and right this ignorant lurch
wicked urge

Like a twisted stick, let’s dig through the sick and find a level space

Lots of ideas about moving past the minds instincts or conditionings, also finding light through fog and illusion/ hidden picture/ hidden mixtures, digging through the trash/ sick. These are all blatant alchemical ideas. Also I remember Noah talking about PBMGR and the grim reaper as the concept of an agent of change, transmutation and not literal death. The whole concept of that album plays out like that, going through life struggles, going through a mental break down, and being reborn into clarity through tragedy. Also take pills can be seen through this same lens. It's a song about him realizing he doesn't need to be on anti-depressants anymore, that he is stronger without them, he's stronger if he faces his mind, and learns how to transmute the pain himself.

I guess what I'm trying to say with all of this, is that his lyrics are often very cryptic and can often seem random or nonsensical, or allude to so many different things. However, with some understanding of alchemical or mythological symbolism, the lyrics start to make sense and take on meaning. I remember also reading that Noah majored in religion, which leads me to believe that, though he may not be dogmatically religious, the symbolism of myth and religion mean something very personal to him. Anyway, would love to discuss this more!

Lots of ideas about moving past the minds instincts or conditionings, also finding light through fog and illusion/ hidden picture/ hidden mixtures, digging through the trash/ sick. These are all blatant alchemical ideas. Also I remember Noah talking about PBMGR and the grim reaper as the concept of an agent of change, transmutation and not literal death. The whole concept of that album plays out like that, going through life struggles, going through a mental break down, and being reborn into clarity through tragedy. Also take pills can be seen through this same lens. It's a song about him realizing he doesn't need to be on anti-depressants anymore, that he is stronger without them, he's stronger if he faces his mind, and learns how to transmute the pain himself.

I guess what I'm trying to say with all of this, is that his lyrics are often very cryptic and can often seem random or nonsensical, or allude to so many different things. However, with some understanding of alchemical or mythological symbolism, the lyrics start to make sense and take on meaning. I remember also reading that Noah majored in religion, which leads me to believe that, though he may not be dogmatically religious, the symbolism of myth and religion mean something very personal to him. Anyway, would love to discuss this more!

Homies who want a better quality rip of this: I'm willing to buy a turntable and spend as much time getting the best quality rip possible, just looking for advice on what hardware to buy (price isn't an issue). Suggestions?

Homies who want a better quality rip of this: I'm willing to buy a turntable and spend as much time getting the best quality rip possible, just looking for advice on what hardware to buy (price isn't an issue). Suggestions?

Leogan wrote:

Homies who want a better quality rip of this: I'm willing to buy a turntable and spend as much time getting the best quality rip possible, just looking for advice on what hardware to buy (price isn't an issue). Suggestions?

You're gonna be sorely disappointed when you discover that this record wasn't meant to be an audiophile record or anything. All the distortion, bass and overall muddiness is intentional. I have decent equipment and this is how it sounds. I highly suggest listening to it on any speakers and avoiding headphones. When he said it sounds better out in the air he means it. The bass breathes more and the vocals are more present.

It doesn't seem like the medium of vinyl was chosen for its superior audio quality here, as much as the experience of having the physical thing (rather than streaming), and playing it on speakers.

^ totally, except it's more like bass / vox / drums. I'm obsessed with the way that most of the time it's just 3 elements going on at once

It blows my mind how Nod to the Folks is basically just drums, bass, vocals, and sirens. At first I thought there was a synth in there, but now I think it's just that he's making chords out of siren samples
Nod is becoming my fav now. I love the way the melody phrases are all kind of broken up with instrumental segments in between. And also the moments where everything drops out and it's just sirens

A Day With the Homies sounds to me like the record closest - sonically and structurally - to his triangle idea of guitar / vox / drums that he talked about during the making of Tomboy. Although here its almost more of a single point.

ATTN SONIC BOOM

could you ask Noah to send u the playlist on the sleeve of the record?

i wasnt actually super stoked on flight the first like 5-10 listens but now it's starting to creep in on me...

i could picture a single-edit of potm, but that might be slightly fucked up... sunset is def a single and yet it also has a pretty lengthy intro...

Gool Aid wrote:

ATTN SONIC BOOM

could you ask Noah to send u the playlist on the sleeve of the record?

I was looking into this and found a reddit comment where someone claims to have found all of the videos

https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimalCollecti ... e/dsghpi5/

I haven't looked to see if all of these are correct, but some of them are samples used on the album and others seem like videos Noah would be into