Collected Animals

Really surprised by Adam on the drums. All bets point to this being a one-off jam. And yeah, the prospect of Noah returning to the States is deeply exciting for a return to older, jammier songwriting and playing styles.


What would y'all call this album?

1. Love on the Big Screen
2. Buddies on the Blackboard
3. Collison Deep
4. Better Things to Come
5. Pandemic Dream #4
6. Vampire Tongues
7. Wish I Knew You
8. Congaree
9. Brown Thrasher
10. Tabbouleh
11. Wake My Door
12. Crucible

"Riders of the Dark" is the first name that came to mine

Love the cover art, song is forgettable

It's definitely not the most exciting thing they've put out in recent years but i do enjoy it a lot. Reminds me a lot of Strung With Everything, not really getting the ACAB vibes but im def in agreement with the slasher flicks vibes. It makes much more sense as a single than it would on an actual album imo. I think the unfortunate thing is that it's likely something to hold us over as im assuming it'll be awhile before we get a full length. Noah mentioned recently his guess on when they would go back in the studio would be 2027... my guess is that whatever they end up recording will probably be a a lot more ambitious than this one. Maybe we'll at least get a tour soonish? fingers crossed. at least we have the other half of this single and feels remaster to look forward to. maybe we'll get that full band eagle kisser.....

That's definitely Noah in the background of the first "can that be us now" section right? Love that moment where it hangs onto his voice dive-bombing as it goes into the next part, feels like a classic AC move in a really good way.

I'm loving this so much- quite a shakeup from their recent output, and I feel like you can hear a certain vibrancy whenever they do switch up the sound. Production definitely reminds me of Collision Deep a bit (less gruff perhaps) in a way that really adds to the 'punch' of the hook

The more I listen to this the more I find it infectious and fun.

That said, I don't like it. Maybe it's the mixing choices or how it's produced, idk. It's too much of a pop tart and cartoons, bag-of-chips-shrunken-in-the-microwave Avey Tare doodle. Not an "Animal Collective" song.

Reminds of St. Vincent in parts, a tad too wind-y for me in parts

I really love all of (what I'm assuming are) Geo's contributions to this song. All those squealy synths are perfect.

Fairly certain they sample Fiery Furnaces on the drums

Thought this too, to the point where I had to interrupt my initial listen to put on Benton Harbor Blues (Again). One fav sampling another. Love it.

Really surprised by Adam on the drums. All bets point to this being a one-off jam. And yeah, the prospect of Noah returning to the States is deeply exciting for a return to older, jammier songwriting and playing styles.


What would y'all call this album?

1. Love on the Big Screen
2. Buddies on the Blackboard
3. Collison Deep
4. Better Things to Come
5. Pandemic Dream #4
6. Vampire Tongues
7. Wish I Knew You
8. Congaree
9. Brown Thrasher
10. Tabbouleh
11. Wake My Door
12. Crucible

O thats right they did do vampire tongues last summer. I like idea of random fun but light summer loosie and semi obscure ambient randomly other seasons whike theyre in cool down mode (or bridge or waters ep style stuff randomly). I like contextless singles w full b sides too. I havent even heard all does

Really surprised by Adam on the drums. All bets point to this being a one-off jam. And yeah, the prospect of Noah returning to the States is deeply exciting for a return to older, jammier songwriting and playing styles.


What would y'all call this album?

1. Love on the Big Screen
2. Buddies on the Blackboard
3. Collison Deep
4. Better Things to Come
5. Pandemic Dream #4
6. Vampire Tongues
7. Wish I Knew You
8. Congaree
9. Brown Thrasher
10. Tabbouleh
11. Wake My Door
12. Crucible

can somebody make me a google drive folder of these 12 songs? i don't think i have all of these tracks but the prospect of making a loosies album is super appealing. tell you what CA: I'll write whoever gets me a dl an original poem on any subject of their choosing as a reward for my laziness.

Love the cover art, song is forgettable

best cover since merryweather

i really like this song, not much more to add than that.

lhtd wrote:

Really surprised by Adam on the drums. All bets point to this being a one-off jam. And yeah, the prospect of Noah returning to the States is deeply exciting for a return to older, jammier songwriting and playing styles.


What would y'all call this album?

1. Love on the Big Screen
2. Buddies on the Blackboard
3. Collison Deep
4. Better Things to Come
5. Pandemic Dream #4
6. Vampire Tongues
7. Wish I Knew You
8. Congaree
9. Brown Thrasher
10. Tabbouleh
11. Wake My Door
12. Crucible

can somebody make me a google drive folder of these 12 songs? i don't think i have all of these tracks but the prospect of making a loosies album is super appealing. tell you what CA: I'll write whoever gets me a dl an original poem on any subject of their choosing as a reward for my laziness.

Someone please do this I would but I don’t have some of these either

is Better Things to Come the vinyl-only bonus track from that comp? I think that's the only one I don't recognize

this is fun and i like all the sonic elements. it reminds me most of slasher flicks mixed with some of avey's more lo-fi output from recent years. decidedly doesn't sound like an a.c. song that would be part of an album cycle, more like one of their benefit comp tracks. it doesn't necessarily have the melodic depth to expand to full size that you would expect on an album track, but does have the creative energy to whizz through a handful of ideas and try out a few surprising sounds.

after vampire tongues, it seems like a further example of avey blurring the distinction between his solo and group output with these random singles. i think he wants his proper solo albums to have some weightier material than this, but also wants these loosies to have a chance to grow with some contributions from his mates. this sounds essentially like an avey song, but the other guys had stuff to add to it, so it's an a.c. song.

i could be wrong too. maybe this is a big pivot and the next album sounds like this. but i'm guessing the next big group project will have them all working on the material together, with more room to breathe and more hi-fi production.

I really like the bleep bloops and the guitar (?) but not a huge fan of the song as of now. Never was big into Slasher Flicks and as others mentioned this is somewhat similar to that

Not to compare distinct things, but I do hope the next album sounds more like Vampire Tongues than this

I like the instrumental and the production actually. It sounds like a fuzzier version of Centipede Hz. However, these are the worst lyrics Avey has ever written. None of his trademark wordplay or figurative language and it sounds pretty strung together. I love the cello at the end, though. I hope they eventually make a baroque pop-style album.

I like the instrumental and the production actually. It sounds like a fuzzier version of Centipede Hz. However, these are the worst lyrics Avey has ever written. None of his trademark wordplay or figurative language and it sounds pretty strung together. I love the cello at the end, though. I hope they eventually make a baroque pop-style album.

Have you heard 'Father Time'??

Like the sample at the start. And the 'love, there on the big widescreen' bits. Cumulatively about ten seconds of the song

thelucky1 wrote:

I like the instrumental and the production actually. It sounds like a fuzzier version of Centipede Hz. However, these are the worst lyrics Avey has ever written. None of his trademark wordplay or figurative language and it sounds pretty strung together. I love the cello at the end, though. I hope they eventually make a baroque pop-style album.

Have you heard 'Father Time'??

If you're saying Father Time has Avey's worst lyrics then I'm gonna have to disagree, in fact those are actually some of my favorite of his CHz lyrics. We all know the real worst Avey lyrics are

Definitely feels like a loosie but maybe they just didn't feel like releasing another one of those. B side could make things interesting but ultimately I see this going the way of Gnip Gnop rather than Crimson, fading into obscurity

No way is it indicative of any kind of new era or anything, imo. What's the story with their contract with Domino these days? I remember geo saying it was one of the last of its kind and that it was fulfilled with Isn't It Now, I think?

listen #3 way cooler. But listen #1 & #2 in a hot borrowed car in my hometown on an apocalyptically sunny summer day on vacation made a whole lot of sense if you know what im sayin


It does kinda feel like Avey solo. but also can Avey like... hear me out... end his solo career output and just release stuff as AC more. Like why not, make AC more prolific and less tidy and restrained. Panda & Deak can still contribute writing to the Big LPs when it's right, but like, just let Avey cook and the boys contribute as needed and it can all just be AC or sumn. Idk doesn't rlly matter either way but why not

Interesting thought. Down There and Eucalyptus are masterpieces but I dream of another timeline where the best of Hourglass and 7s got folded into AC proper. Full band What's the Goodside?, Remember Mayan, Hey Bog, Sweepers Grin, etc

We’ll always have the Deakin, Jeremy Hyman trio versions of Cows stuff

as soon as the melody starts getting real good he hits me with "it's love there on a big wide screen... love there on a big wide screen" like c'mon man

i've already accepted that he just has much worse taste than he once did but it doesn't not still throw me sometimes

also the father time defender has logged on, that song is a perfectly good did you see the words rewrite

this track is sick, I like it.
The lyrics are certainly on the corny end of Avey's style but far from being bad imo. the song conceptually feels retro to me, it plays into this sort of 80s thing of movie magic, blockbusters being significant cultural moments, collective experiences of hope and wonder and connecting with real emotional moments through cinema. I think that sentiment requires a healthy dose of nievete, which the lyrics do a good job of embodying, but they don't lack self awareness - "can that be us now?"


clearly this is a back door Avey Tare joint. I wonder if we'll see some more releases like this where it's primarily one band member's track, with the other three members contributing a sprinkling of vocals and sounds to make it an AC single. I don't love speculating about the label but this would seem like a chill way to ride out the rest of their domino contract, if indeed it is drawing to a close.

Adam McDaniel's mixing is unmistakable for better or worse, personally I find this a lot more balanced than most of 7s which was just a chaotic compressed mess.

clearly this is a back door Avey Tare joint. I wonder if we'll see some more releases like this where it's primarily one band member's track, with the other three members contributing a sprinkling of vocals and sounds to make it an AC single. I don't love speculating about the label but this would seem like a chill way to ride out the rest of their domino contract, if indeed it is drawing to a close.

This would be a great new angle for them. They have always kept solo and band stuff very separate, so it seems like this could be an interesting untouched experiment. I’ve always thought they could do a cool version of the white album, which is essentially this method.

roopn wrote:

clearly this is a back door Avey Tare joint. I wonder if we'll see some more releases like this where it's primarily one band member's track, with the other three members contributing a sprinkling of vocals and sounds to make it an AC single. I don't love speculating about the label but this would seem like a chill way to ride out the rest of their domino contract, if indeed it is drawing to a close.

This would be a great new angle for them. They have always kept solo and band stuff very separate, so it seems like this could be an interesting untouched experiment. I’ve always thought they could do a cool version of the white album, which is essentially this method.

PB involving the three others on Sinister Grift feels like it opened the door to this too.

Thought this was a great track and excited for anything new to come. Love the repetitive nature of the lyrics too, any AC mantra is good

WooL wrote:

roopn wrote:

clearly this is a back door Avey Tare joint. I wonder if we'll see some more releases like this where it's primarily one band member's track, with the other three members contributing a sprinkling of vocals and sounds to make it an AC single. I don't love speculating about the label but this would seem like a chill way to ride out the rest of their domino contract, if indeed it is drawing to a close.

This would be a great new angle for them. They have always kept solo and band stuff very separate, so it seems like this could be an interesting untouched experiment. I’ve always thought they could do a cool version of the white album, which is essentially this method.

PB involving the three others on Sinister Grift feels like it opened the door to this too.

Definitely, and if we follow the classic PB album presents an idea that the next band album builds on, this could be a good indicator.

thelucky1 wrote:

I like the instrumental and the production actually. It sounds like a fuzzier version of Centipede Hz. However, these are the worst lyrics Avey has ever written. None of his trademark wordplay or figurative language and it sounds pretty strung together. I love the cello at the end, though. I hope they eventually make a baroque pop-style album.

Have you heard 'Father Time'??

Yeah, it's a good song. I don't really know what it has to do with this one though.

jerry wonder wrote:

thelucky1 wrote:

I like the instrumental and the production actually. It sounds like a fuzzier version of Centipede Hz. However, these are the worst lyrics Avey has ever written. None of his trademark wordplay or figurative language and it sounds pretty strung together. I love the cello at the end, though. I hope they eventually make a baroque pop-style album.

Have you heard 'Father Time'??

If you're saying Father Time has Avey's worst lyrics then I'm gonna have to disagree, in fact those are actually some of my favorite of his CHz lyrics. We all know the real worst Avey lyrics are

Spoiler: show

Golden Gal

Wait, what? Father Time is such a creative song...Does it have a bad reputation? I think there are some classic Avey-style, steam of conciousness lyrics in that song. My point was that this new song is not like that at all. The lyrics are very straightforward unlike say Did You See the Words? or You Could Win a Rabbit or For Reverend Green which kind of paint a picture of a general topic (pregnancy or burnout or revolution, respectively) but aren't really clear in what they are exactly talking about. Like they are small perceptions or thoughts surrounding an event or topic but not a direct description of it. Very dream-like.

If you like these new lyrics for the new song or this new style of writing from Avey, more power to you. I'm not one to tell Avey Tare how to write a song obviously.

i agree the lyrics are trite by his standards, but the subject matter itself is trite. love on the big screen. and it's not just about the fake idea of love being simple, but his childish pining for that simplicity.

it's not very deep, nor is it trying to be. it is very straightforward. i get why that feels like a lesser mode for avey, he is for sure better when he lets opaque imagery speak for him. i think it's harder for him to do that stream-of-consciousness type thing within these tightly structured, sunny pop melodies. golden gal obviously leans into triteness, whereas something like vertical is able to weave his strange poetry into a poppier format because it doesn't have big sunshiney hooks. he doesn't have to strain to match his lyrics to the emotional highs of the music.

This sounded infinitely better on the cans

i'm devastated by that father time mention. the chorus is just so good. him fighting with himself about luck, happenstance, writing about his feelings on his friends passing. and when i imagine time hes got real big hands and bigger plans from a long time ago is so catchy too.

I love father time too

yea I love Father Time and yea 2nd the adam McDaniel mixing compression session

Father Time is like top three Hertz

Yea fully… deep Avey that I feel like could have had more exploration rly.. pulleys mercury man Father Time and crimson, even Gotham… feels like it comes out of glasslands primordial waters .. Deeply psychedelic heady and melodically rich

I’m with Avey on what I feel like this song is about , and I think he’s saying what he’s saying so plainly that it comes across as weak if you meet it on a critical level… everything is so fucking compressed in this song tho., almost hurts to listen to. I feel like honeycomb does a really good job at what this song is going for in terms of mixing (not really production). Like those big fuzz guitar swells are just so flat.. man. These guys need dynamics