Collected Animals

I think the last minute of Dragon Slayer is my favourite minute on the album.

Yeah, If you're lukewarm on DS I'd say spend a little more time with it, played over different things. I think its gorgeous and it took me a second-- felt a lil muted at first. But the ending with those chimes.... bells? glockenspiel-synths or like celeste? Is incredible.

Its so layered and epic.


Also, SWE I could see almost loosing one of the end-choruses I guess, I mean not really, but yeah its long and I actually enjoy the verses/bridges more than the big chorus now? "Suns no better off" is the new "when the Sun comes out, we'll go out again".

The middle singles chunk hits harder than ever now... Prester is newly listenable again (as in, no longer borderline burnt out on it) and SWE brings such a cool expansion of sounds to the album.

Walker is the big anomaly. Its grown on me so much. If yah recall, I was kinda whatever on it the day it dropped. It somehow keeps sounding better, so weird. Almost my favorite production here?

And then the last Avey suite into R&D is just amazing too.

Screw the 4 sides of a vinyl, this is a triptych. Its 3 arcs of an anime or a medieval lay or some shit. Opening salvo of Slayer/Keys,-->
Prester connects that via more heavy keyboard focus into SWE/Walker single madness
Then Cherokee takes you by the hand into the Avey zone, Deak sees you out. Elegiac viking funeral.

incredible..

I take back my previous comment. TS is not Spiderman 3 it's their Miami Vice, "late" career return to form, doing goofy things that shouldn't work, hyper earnest and badass



"Skiffs move, that's why they're called skiffs"

nickinko wrote:

I think the last minute of Dragon Slayer is my favourite minute on the album.

Yeah, If you're lukewarm on DS I'd say spend a little more time with it, played over different things. I think its gorgeous and it took me a second-- felt a lil muted at first. But the ending with those chimes.... bells? glockenspiel-synths or like celeste? Is incredible.

Its so layered and epic.


Also, SWE I could see almost loosing one of the end-choruses I guess, I mean not really, but yeah its long and I actually enjoy the verses/bridges more than the big chorus now? "Suns no better off" is the new "when the Sun comes out, we'll go out again".

The middle singles chunk hits harder than ever now... Prester is newly listenable again (as in, no longer borderline burnt out on it) and SWE brings such a cool expansion of sounds to the album.

Walker is the big anomaly. Its grown on me so much. If yah recall, I was kinda whatever on it the day it dropped. It somehow keeps sounding better, so weird. Almost my favorite production here?

And then the last Avey suite into R&D is just amazing too.

Screw the 4 sides of a vinyl, this is a triptych. Its 3 arcs of an anime or a medieval lay or some shit. Opening salvo of Slayer/Keys,-->
Prester connects that via more heavy keyboard focus into SWE/Walker single madness
Then Cherokee takes you by the hand into the Avey zone, Deak sees you out. Elegiac viking funeral.

incredible..

(this is the first meme I've made in over a decade. sorry everyone)

dragon slayer and car keys growing on me quite a bit, the melodies are deceptively simple compared to the rest of the album so they don't really stand out as highlights but the little details reveal themselves over time and gradually fill in a beautiful picture. chorus of Car Keys is very Also Frightened to me

No yeah that's exactly what it's like lol.

Esp if listened to digitally or on CD. I get vinyl on Tuesday apparently

The choruses of Car Keys keep growing. And speaking of Also Frightened, the outro of Cherokee reminds me of that

Dragon Slayer is one of my favorites. Avey’s singing feels so new, the lower register or whatever it really gets me into the mood for the rest of the album. Still not sold on new car keys sorry

Sorry for calling Walker Wanker, autocorrected as it's one of my top three most common words.

Can’t keep up with all the posting, so apologies if these are ancient observations.

No tracklist on the back of the CD gatefold—is that true for the LP too? Was the album art/tracklist reveal, the square by square thing, just a treat for us collected nerds?

Bit o’ demoitis in the case of “Cherokee” coda. The harmony at the end has this counter melody that they didn’t include in the studio version. It gave it this really wistful, almost sad vibe. I thought it was really moving, really emotional. Feels kinda improved on wax.

The climax in “Royal” is the little pink guy with his arms spread wide—“I love you this much!”

Dragon Slayer is one of my favorites. Avey’s singing feels so new, the lower register or whatever it really gets me into the mood for the rest of the album. Still not sold on new car keys sorry

Feel this exactly. The ending jam of “Car Keys” could have been so much more. It needed to either go on and on and get super hypnotic or have a key change or something. It’ll probably grow on me, but...

The gang absolutely NAILS the beginning of Car Keys and the finale of Cherokee. The two moments on the album I was worried about most before diving in both ended up being positively euphoric.

I finally dove in with friends and ended up listening to the album 8 times in a row. I can’t wait to backtrack and read everyone’s first reactions and eventually share my cornucopia of thoughts.

Long story short, Clock Boats is an instant classic.

Most of the album feels like track 3 if that makes sense

The gang absolutely NAILS the beginning of Car Keys and the finale of Cherokee. The two moments on the album I was worried about most before diving in both ended up being positively euphoric.

I finally dove in with friends and ended up listening to the album 8 times in a row. I can’t wait to backtrack and read everyone’s first reactions and eventually share my cornucopia of thoughts.

Long story short, Clock Boats is an instant classic.

Man I kind of feel like the beginning of Car Keys is what I'm missing more than the end. Ever since 2019 I've loved the extended drumming and then last year I feel like they really fuckin nailed it with Deakin's keys and when Avey finally drops into the main bassline it really gets me hyped up. As long as they continue to keep that transition live I'll be happy.

Most of the album feels like track 3 if that makes sense

someone ask avey if skiffs is more a "disc one" or "disc two" album in his opinion

Sorry for calling Walker Wanker, autocorrected as it's one of my top three most common words.

no please keep calling it that lol

album rules, got me feeling emotional

Strung With Everything fills me with a lot of joy, those final choruses are so euphoric

excited to keep listening to this

Great to see you round, champ. X

dio wrote:

nickinko wrote:

I think the last minute of Dragon Slayer is my favourite minute on the album.

Yeah, If you're lukewarm on DS I'd say spend a little more time with it, played over different things. I think its gorgeous and it took me a second-- felt a lil muted at first. But the ending with those chimes.... bells? glockenspiel-synths or like celeste? Is incredible.

Its so layered and epic.


Also, SWE I could see almost loosing one of the end-choruses I guess, I mean not really, but yeah its long and I actually enjoy the verses/bridges more than the big chorus now? "Suns no better off" is the new "when the Sun comes out, we'll go out again".

The middle singles chunk hits harder than ever now... Prester is newly listenable again (as in, no longer borderline burnt out on it) and SWE brings such a cool expansion of sounds to the album.

Walker is the big anomaly. Its grown on me so much. If yah recall, I was kinda whatever on it the day it dropped. It somehow keeps sounding better, so weird. Almost my favorite production here?

And then the last Avey suite into R&D is just amazing too.

Screw the 4 sides of a vinyl, this is a triptych. Its 3 arcs of an anime or a medieval lay or some shit. Opening salvo of Slayer/Keys,-->
Prester connects that via more heavy keyboard focus into SWE/Walker single madness
Then Cherokee takes you by the hand into the Avey zone, Deak sees you out. Elegiac viking funeral.

incredible..

(this is the first meme I've made in over a decade. sorry everyone)

Its pretty accurate lol

THIS IS JUSSSTTT FORR YOUUUU TO KNOOOWWWW.
Walker is so great! All the xylophone and key sounds feel like being a 3 year old on a carousel ride. So much depth to them, like a bunch of wind chimes ringing at the same time. The hurdy gurdy strings are awesome too. The code is sweet, sounds like avey and pb trading voicemail messages, but in a classic sung tongs vocal jam way.

my record got delivered today! didn't realize it was gonna be cut at 45 rpm, sounds great!

Slayer might have become my favorite AC opener. I seriously I see this becoming my absolute favorite by them too.

Most of the album feels like track 3 if that makes sense

I've sort of been feeling this too, if only because of the expectations of having Skiffs 2 tracks in the future - Royal and Desire is stunning but my exposure to it from the 2019 bootlegs means I still think of it as a sort of mid-setlist breather, rather than a grand finale for the album. It may sound like a beautiful sunset on the beach, but there's still a dark night of the soul to come, deeper in the forest. (I've said this before but I'm hugely looking forward to the custom fan playlists and megamixes that'll come with Skiffs 2, especially with the Skiffs 1 tracks not having crossfades - just imagine Cherokee into Gem And I, or Stride Rite into Prester John)

it's been said a bunch of times but coming late to the party bc i waited for the official release: listened on headphones all day yesterday, and finally got to put it on in the car today and wow, definitely a car/speakers album as many have been saying, it really opens it up, makes listening on headphones sound muddy and flat by comparison

Fovrodi wrote:

Most of the album feels like track 3 if that makes sense

someone ask avey if skiffs is more a "disc one" or "disc two" album in his opinion

I had this thought the other day that maybe Avey wrote Disc One about Time Skiffs and that TS is Disc One and TS 2 will be Disc Two

That's now my favorite theory. Quick, how many tracks on this record utilize a tuba and G flat?

what an awesome record. some grateful for this.

i picked up the vinyl last night and listened to side A at 33 RPM accidentally. during dragon slayer i was like, oooo nice some #1 style avey vocals. then on car keys i was like hmmm interesting to do this two tracks in a row.

I wasn't expecting the records to be played at 45 either. As someone who doesn't know much about the actual production of vinyl, is there a good reason why they've done this?

Also, weirdly enough, no download code in my packaging. Not that I really need it. But still odd.

jfw7 wrote:

surely not

what’s the context behind that signature? lol

“on la brea”

it’s a BARR lyric, so it’s from the extended ancoverse

I wasn't expecting the records to be played at 45 either. As someone who doesn't know much about the actual production of vinyl, is there a good reason why they've done this?

the faster the record is spinning the higher fidelity (33 vs 45) of the audio contained in the grooves. basically more information in the grooves to work with for the master. you might have noticed that when listening to albums, the sound quality of an LP typically gets worse as it the needle gets closer to the center of the record (end of the side). the grooves are smaller here which gives less information for playback. If TS was released on a single album played at 33rpm, the overall mix on the vinyl press would be less dynamic (compared to the 2xLP they put it on) and the end of side A and B would esp start sounding a lot more crunchy



i'm super excited to get my hands on the LP but honestly I can't spend 40 bucks on a new album. That's kind of bonkos. the new (by new I mean from 2014...) D'Angelo LP was a 2xLP album with 14 years of hype and it was still $30 or something

Very interesting! The more you know I guess.

Fuck passer-by is one of their saddest songs. We go back confirmed everything I thought about it. It's just one of the most AC choruses, and one of their best. The vocal trade-offs, the fucking poetry.

...then on car keys i was like hmmm interesting to do this two tracks in a row.

I'm probably going to do a full Slow Skiffs listen soon for fun. There have been a few instrumental albums I've accidentally done that to, some sound better that way!

Screw the 4 sides of a vinyl, this is a triptych. Its 3 arcs of an anime or a medieval lay or some shit. Opening salvo of Slayer/Keys,--> Prester connects that via more heavy keyboard focus into SWE/Walker single madness
Then Cherokee takes you by the hand into the Avey zone, Deak sees you out. Elegiac viking funeral.

incredible..

Been really feeling this way! (though I think Walker is a bit of an inbetween track because it melds so much with Passer-By and WGB)

The climax in “Royal” is the little pink guy with his arms spread wide—“I love you this much!”

My vinyl copy was supposed to come on Monday but was delivered today! (I guess your enemies change their minds) And I have really been appreciating this little dude. TS may be my favorite cover/album art for any AC release

Had a really nice listen to this album. Been playing it on speakers several times this past week and finally took it on a jog-walk with headphones. I gotta say, this album really shines on headphones after getting used to it on speakers. The stereo imagery is a pretty huge part of this record. It's a lot to take in on headphones at first, but it works insanely well on both speakers and cans.

The idea of collages are obviously a central theme running throughout just about every aspect of this music. I imagine assembling Time Skiffs and Bridge to Quiet to be very similar to the process of making a collage. Passing around discrete chunks of sound to each other and lining them up in a way that creates the overall song. Avey clearly further expanded the idea of collages into his lyrics that seem to explore the idea of life experience as a collection of individual moments that make the "collage" of your identity. There is a sadness to that represented on the album where it can feel like everything you know is this arbitrary stream of moments. I pick that up in PJ and PB. But like on the cover, beneath the cracks is a deeper spiritual world, one that is longed for by the singers. In Car Keys, Panda sings about breaking through the surface level patterns and regaining control of his life. In Royal, Deakin closes his eyes while listening to a song and remembers his intrinsic passion for life and love, which expands the theme of art being some kind of windows in the "Grand Collage" that can take you to those underlying spiritual places.

Those were all just rambling half thoughts, it's a very thematically dense album but also very human, so excited to keep discovering it.

I agree Passer-By is one of their bleakest songs. It feels kind of dissociative which reminds me of Cuckoo Cuckoo. Panda's lyrics at the very end took me a bit to get into, felt kinda hokey, but I've warmed to them now recognizing it adds a sort of theatrical, storybook element to it. It's a very interesting song and one I have trouble pinning down lyrically and how it fits into the overall collage-esque narrative of the album. But the image of a little girl pointing at a hummingbird during a public fight breaking out amidst a floral scene is very strong and gives me that dissociative, fractured feeling. I think it's this character of a Passer-By that I can't quite synthesize into my overall understanding. It's a heady album for sure.

But as Royal came to an end on my walk today, I felt a real deep feeling of wholeness and warmth. One that I have only have felt with Feels in my journey with AnCo. But this time around it's a much more mature and nuanced and thoughtful version of that feeling. Again, real treasure of an album and to think there's much more to this era is pretty insane. Post-Sleep Cycle AnCo is a tremendous force.

gotta say, sort of in love with the way panda sing "ready the weapon" in order to make it rhyme with "rob the quick one" on car keys, been buzzing round and round my head all day. along with the chorus of WGB, great stuff.

okay so my first listen of this felt like a blur but now I am loving this album more and more

I regret ranking Walker so low. It's honestly one of my favorite songs on the album. I'm such a Panda fanboy. The melody is infectious and I can't help but sing it in my head over and over. The same thing is happening with We Go Back right now also.

Oh, and according to last.fm, I've now listened to the album in full 40 times this week lol

I want to shout out Deakin and his keys on this record. I think it was outside of his comfort zone until recent years and he nailed it.

car keys and we go back - biggest earworms on the album? those have been stuck in my head the most, easily

What the hell is that scary-ass noise at the end of Cherokee. 4am and it honestly spooked me. Extremely cool.

after yesterday's whirlwind "IT'S OUT" today it's starting to hit me that Time Skiffs is finally in the world for all to hear........ and that they nailed it

never thought they'd make a song like "Royal and Desire." stunned by that one continually

and to think TS1 is John the Baptist pointing the way to TS2, the real deal, Jesus... we are in for a treat