Collected Animals

I'm curious how everyone plans on approaching the next album. Since I've heard a lot of the songs already via Blast Radio sessions, I think I'm gonna avoid the singles, and any freebird that isn't a CD quality rip

For me avoiding singles is too stressful. Being familiar with them changes the impact of the album in the short-term, but I think long term the sands settle and it isn't worth holding out. I'd rather be able to engage freely with AC's socials (and the broader music community) as things get released.
freebirds I can skip though, unless it's months in advance like buoys was.

I'm interested if you plan to listen to boots from this year's shows?

Still listening semi daily via mostly it being in rotation in my car. I've been breaking up listens with Pavement records for whatever reason. Embracing the singles suite is what has made the flow and relistens possible.

And if my record player wasn't broke, I'd be listening to it even more. It helps me deal with the fact that I don't think I like most of the other hyped albums about rn

NP'd

I think I'll avoid boots from this year's shows. Will definitely spin anything with an official release though.

Skiffs still fresh because I'm a little restricted on when I can actually play it. I'd probably listen more if I could. But yeh, once every day or two (aside from those first couple of days) has definitely kept things very fresh.

hedgecore wrote:

I'm curious how everyone plans on approaching the next album. Since I've heard a lot of the songs already via Blast Radio sessions, I think I'm gonna avoid the singles, and any freebird that isn't a CD quality rip

For me avoiding singles is too stressful. Being familiar with them changes the impact of the album in the short-term, but I think long term the sands settle and it isn't worth holding out. I'd rather be able to engage freely with AC's socials (and the broader music community) as things get released.
freebirds I can skip though, unless it's months in advance like buoys was.

I'm interested if you plan to listen to boots from this year's shows?

No doubt! Maybe i'll listen to the first single to hear how it is sonically.

Great question about the boots - I think I'll see what the set is. If it's newer material I'll probably listen to the boot once or twice and let em sit on the shelf. If it's stuff from TS and earlier then I'll definitely eat em up. Hearing Strung with Everything for the first time was so fun

I listen to it a good amount, I've always listened to AC quite a lot when I drive during work/to school, but at home when I listen to 3/4 records Ive been putting it on every few days. Still find something new to enjoy about it, it settled into a very similar spot that a lot of my other favorite albums have. I've actually been listening to some boots to get hyped for the tour so it's been fun hearing some of the Skiffs songs in several different fashions too.

Oddly enough my drive listens are all albums and home listens are boots. Really loving the blast recordings lately. That gem and I intro just puts me in the best place, that song is special.

Yeah the way they sort of improvise their way into Gem and I on the blast version is amazing, hoping the reason they left that one to be recorded in person was because they want to recreate that part in the studio to some degree.

Still sounding great to me although I only listen maybe every couple of days. SWE was great by itself and good when it gets going but the intro kills the pacing of the record, it should be part of the Prester outro, I think. I also find the final section goes on too long. As I say, really excited me as a single because it's got such a varied patchwork structure but on the album, I skip it every time. As an eight-song album, I think it's brilliant.

"Let's say tonight you and me!" Gets me every time

im glad big thief and black country new road both came out with 10/10 albums to distract me from this one so i dont over listen

Still sounding great to me although I only listen maybe every couple of days. SWE was great by itself and good when it gets going but the intro kills the pacing of the record, it should be part of the Prester outro, I think. I also find the final section goes on too long. As I say, really excited me as a single because it's got such a varied patchwork structure but on the album, I skip it every time. As an eight-song album, I think it's brilliant.

I don't skip strung, but I pretty much totally agree

Now that I’ve sat with the whole album for a while, I’ve been going back into the boots here and there. And two things I’ve joyously created for myself is that Avey says “shawty” at the start of Car Keys in the Pitchfork Fest boot, and Walker is actually about the network television reboot of Walker, Texas Ranger

I've been skipping around on the record. I skip the singles suite quite a bit because I love everything around it but it really does work so well in the context of the record. Prester John still sounds great no matter how many times I hear it. Definitely trying to get hyped up again for the shows and started listening to some old boots again last night which I hadn't done since right after last fall's tour. So many of the 2019 songs feel unfinished to me after hearing the record. It makes sense but they are all really sparse and simple sounding to my ears. I'd say for me with the exception of We Go Back I think everything has been improved via the record/2021 shows.

I'm planning on holding off March Tour boots unless there's any cool older stuff but also I'm trying to hit two shows so that should be enough to keep me satisfied until official Skiffs 2 news.

I'm not sure if the SWE intro is the issue, or just the fact that they go back to back with the PJ outro into the SWE intro. It's like nearly 3 minutes, too long of a break.

Dragon Slayer still doesn't feel like a track 1 to me, it sounds like more of a track 2. but it is probably the most "track 1" of the tracks that made the album so I can see why it was put there, the album doesn't really have anything that would make for a great opener

agree with ^ about the intro to SWE coming right after the outro to PJ. should've moved some things around there, SWE always seems to break the flow built by the first three tracks where it stands anyway

Dragon Slayer still doesn't feel like a track 1 to me, it sounds like more of a track 2. but it is probably the most "track 1" of the tracks that made the album so I can see why it was put there, the album doesn't really have anything that would make for a great opener

agree with ^ about the intro to SWE coming right after the outro to PJ. should've moved some things around there, SWE always seems to break the flow built by the first three tracks where it stands anyway

Yeah idk if any of these tracks really ever had first track energy, maybe Cherokee could have been in some aspect, but the most "opener" songs of the batch to me were always Gem and I, Magicians, and Kings Walk.

I have really come around to adoring Strung and I think it really has become my favorite of the group, tied with Car Keys I think. I do sorta think that Car Keys -> PJ -> D Slayer -> Passerby -> Strung is the superior track listing for the first half, then Cherokee Walker WGB Royal.

I don’t think SWE is very good at all — just a dull clunky track in the middle of a beautiful album. and it’s so loud the mix is almost overwhelming

SWE is among my favs but I don't disagree about it's placement w/in the album

shocked at these opinions tbh. i get that the transition is weird, but it totally works for me. the first 5 song stretch is definitely the most fun part of the album to me, and strung is a huge part of that. just a classic AC song in every way

Some of y'all complaining about 3ish minutes of pure soundscape b/w PJ and SWE smdh, I thought yal were tru AnCo heads.

TBH SWE has stuck out to me a little bit, and if I've overcome the voice in my head that tells me to skip Prester when it comes on and I just enjoy it, then I'm able to buckle down and vibe to the WHOLE 3-single suite.

Idk, its gone thru phases for me.... I also at some point thought the ending of SWEwas too long. Idk, I think its earned tho. Funny how an ending that is initially a huge highlight and kind of confounding on the first handful of listens becomes almost overly catchy and repetitive eventually. The start-and-stop climax doesn't get totally old tho, cuz I still have not untangled all of the crazy harmonies and layers in those noise-blasts.

The verses of SWE are one of my favorite things on the whole album

I maintain that the album is perfect except for maybe Panda's vox fx in Car Keys and also R&D is a little normie for me.

Some of y'all complaining about 3ish minutes of pure soundscape b/w PJ and SWE smdh, I thought yal were tru AnCo heads.

if the intro and outro were connected i'd appreciate it more.

i think the lack of real transitions is the only thing that disappoints on this album. if we're on these time skiffs, why not have some soundscape traveling between songs to connect them?

I love drifting AC soundscapes but PJ outro doesn't really lead into the SWE intro very well. They would have been much better separated across the album im (extremely accurate) o.

The ambient PJ -> SWE soundscape doesn't really bother me at all. I guess it's a little awkward but it's really nice. I love the intro to SWE and the main sections that come after, but sadly the "let's say tonight you and me" section might be my least favorite part of the album. It's fun, but it definitely drags and doesn't really keep a consistent level of energy and the melody isn't very interesting to me at least. Noah's drums really carry it. I had hoped it would grow on me but really it hasn't. Think it would be a great experience live though, and I haven't been skipping it or anything, because the chorus tease in the middle of it is really great and makes it worth it.

if only it linked cleaner. My only problem with it, I fucking love PJ - Strung. Makes me feel like I'm right at a show but without the clean transition for whatever.

Conversely, is this the only AC album without transitions? Lol. I kinda like the idea being one I read a bit ago, them being different parts of a collage, cuz the songs are sequenced really well and I don't think no transition takes away from that. Strung is great!! I think Car keys is my least fav so far, but that's not saying anything bc I love that song, and I think the last 2 minutes is actually just what I fucking wanted. AC stretching their legs. Car keys is just a bit jarring since it is kind've slowed down.

I agree about the 'let's say tonight...' part, and no disrespect towards Fov or anyone who loves it but that section feels quite like an SJ throwback without the energetic or emotional heft propelling it anywhere. In the same way that Winter Wonderland got some stick for being 'generic/autopilot AC' when SJ came out, I think the same for SWE - albeit that's precisely what I was buzzing about when it first dropped. It felt like a cross between the electronic poppy stuff on CHz and something approaching the catharsis of SJ. I still think that's the case.

I'd just definitely enjoy it more on an EP of loose tracks.

Conversely, is this the only AC album without transitions?

feels didn't have any transitions, nor did sung tongs unless you count we tigers>mouth wooed her but that's pretty jarring and still has a nanosecond of silence between them

I also really enjoy the space between Prester and Strung. To my ears it's an effective sojourn in the album sequence. It gives Strung some gravity once it kicks off.

swe is so not a classic ac track. its the most referential thing theyve done to other music i feel like ever, except for royal and desire.

it has a transparency of structure, the classic chord progressions. idk

when i throw this album on when i'm doing work and it's in the background, the one part of the album that always immediately recaptures my attention is the "I got this world, i think" part of strung. that part is just bursting with that playful AC magic

re: discussion about listening routines/habits with time skiffs

i feel like human nature makes us crave that 2nd record more and i feel like its existence makes us process time skiffs differently. i actually felt a little guilty at certain points during this album roll out cause i kept thinking about time skiffs 2 instead of the album that was right in front of us, feeling like i should try harder to live in the present and be more appreciative of what we were getting instead of always looking ahead to the future for what we don't yet have. and i dont think it has to really do with what songs ended up on time skiffs and what songs they saved, there's an equal distribution of songs i'm psyched about on both, i think there's just something about the immediacy of time skiffs vs the mysteriousness of the second record that makes that second LP more attractive. just an interesting thing to think about, i wonder if our listening habits and relationship to time skiffs would be different if it was a standalone record and we weren't subconsciously seeing it as half of a whole

^wow I agree with both yr last posts.

Bridge-y section of SWE owns, and, yes, I agree, Skiffs 2 has been like the mysterious Other Lady on our minds during this whole cycle. Skiffs 2 will be the ODDSAC to Skiff's weird rock-MPP attempt (??). Except it'll be an audio-album

The verses of SWE are one of my favorite things on the whole album

Yes, the verses in strung are genius. I maintain they're like ABBA lol. my main complaint with the lengthy repeats of the chorus at the end is just that I want more verses. the quiet prechorus-whateveryouwanttocallit is great too. I think the chorus is just a little too loud, given it ends up consisting of more than a third of the whole song

SWE ending is beautiful and I love the chanting harmonies. There's a lot of bits of throwback to their prior sounds in this album...it's really cool how they put it together

This album is a picture I'd frame.

Last thing about SWE for a sec: I think it's intro works perfectly as an transition from gurdy jam at the end of Prester. It's comes in pretty slowly and continues to go back into silence and total negative space. Thats the most logical way to re rev up again after geos weird hurdy jam dystopia


I think they felt so good about the opening 3 that they wanted a real palette cleansing to happen before the 2nd act... Two LONG avey songs sandwhiching Pandas Walker pop perfection

I think they felt so good about the opening 3 that they wanted a real palette cleansing to happen before the 2nd act... Two LONG avey songs sandwhiching Pandas Walker pop perfection

damn that is really interesting to think about the album in thirds. Vinyl sequencing has my head chopping the album into quarters. But thirds makes a lot of sense, like Strawberry Jam

Looks like we all agree SWE stinks

Looks like we all agree SWE stinks

f u

Stunk With Everything

Yeah definitely not , a lot of overwhelmingly positive posts when the single dropped and when the album came out. Surprised at this sudden flux of takes though