Collected Animals

Avey's music is as fleeting and temporary as a polaroid. Emotionally messy and hand made

"let's talk about invisible darlings, who probably think they haven't been seen all year"

dude you literally just said that they were invisible, how can you then imply that they've been "seen"? checkmate atheists, bad album, 0/10

Avey's music is as fleeting and temporary as a polaroid. Emotionally messy and hand made

Good assessment.

thank you Angelic Chaos!

Thanks for the interview rip! I listened once, and its a really great in depth interview. I felt the host's fanboy energy, must've been insane interviewing someone who means so much to you.

No prob y'all Yeah we've never really gotten this deep of an interview with any of them before, so it's really cool Avey did this

New version of Midnight Special is fucking amazing. Really really hopes he plays it in SF/Novato.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jiXy7fQiHfxtyA4ONGzyuX7QL0cnYm80

7s tracks finally showed up in the ASCAP repo but there's an additional '(Instrumental)' listing for each song. Even RESET which has actual instrumental versions does not have these, so not sure if they mean anything

dang, this album has really grown on me. i love it so much. the collage-like sounds are just so gorgeous.

when new anco drops, i'm often overwhelmed by how much is going on sonically... but after several listens i'm able to process everything that's going on more easily... and it becomes pure magic

when new anco drops, i'm often overwhelmed by how much is going on sonically... but after several listens i'm able to process everything that's going on more easily... and it becomes pure magic

100%, its always like that for me too. Its also really fun to hear the albums through different speaker/headphone/car system set ups after getting familiar with it. The sounds get realigned and it feels mixed differently on each set up.

i listened to MPP on my bone conduction running headphones and was amazed at the different details popping out after so many listens

Wonder if anyone has that clip avey posted to his insta story last year. Him in the studio working on something. Can't really remember it but don't it sounded like anything on 7s

^maybe the gator pools thing? Idk

Still loving this album, on regular rotation. Not my favorite Avey release but it feels personal and intimate in a unique way

Hey Bog is the song that has outlasted the others on this record for me. I've been feeling it big time lately. Fun to dance to as well.

Been driving around with 7s cd on repeat in my car for the last few weeks. At first I was underwhelmed, didn't seem to be pushing anything forward with the sound or songwriting, seemed typically Avey in maybe a way that could be deemed 'lazy'.. but as usual with his records it has truly grown on me in such a lovely and comforting way.
Opening suite of pop songs continues in the tradition of Avey "Musical" songs, tunes that would be at home sung on a stage by a whimsical protagonist, albeit with psych-y disturbing elements. It's pretty satisfying to have a song called "The Musical" that actually puts a fine point on this recurring element of Avey's songwriting throughout his career. (I think of songs like "Applesauce", "Graze" and several other AC album openers). The arrangements here are all sweet pianos, gentle bleeps and soft ripped edges, perfectly represented by the collage art. It's definitely comfort food Avey, but so carefully realized and with a ton of tantalizing details.
The longer songs in the back half go deep into the bog, down there where it's all shadowy with mud and repressed memory. No one does that hypnotic repetitive drift-groove better than Avey, these songs ache and glow with a complex stew of feelings. Then after the almost tropical rave-up "Neurons", "Cloud Stop" goes full deranged catatonia, ending the short album on the bleakest possible note, including funereal flutes.
Overall this album doesn't surpass "Cows" for front to back joy, but holds space with all his other releases as a special and subtle work of art with a powerfully addictive draw.

Side note: saw him in Novato on Saturday, such a fantastic intimate show. What a funny venue! Never thought I'd see Avey Tare in a strip mall between Leslie's Pool Supplies and the Old Navy Factory outlet, but here we are!

Neurons loud and it’s hitting different

Just wanna say The Musical has aged magnificently and I'm hoping that all it's haters see the light one day. Fantastic song.

Just wanna say The Musical has aged magnificently and I'm hoping that all it's haters see the light one day. Fantastic song.

I love that one! The first three songs sound so hopeful and full of hapiness!

revisited for the first time in a while, the first three songs and the rest of the album are so so so different. anybody have alt tracklists to help ease the huge mood swing along?

Try

1. The Musical
2. Neurons
3. Hey Bog
4. Cloud Stop Rest Start
5. Sweepers Grin
6. Invisible Darlings
7. Lips at Night

I’ve still never actually finished this album. I always give up on cloud stop like 3 mins in

I think Sweeper’s Grin might be the best thing on here.

crikit wrote:

when new anco drops, i'm often overwhelmed by how much is going on sonically... but after several listens i'm able to process everything that's going on more easily... and it becomes pure magic

100%, its always like that for me too. Its also really fun to hear the albums through different speaker/headphone/car system set ups after getting familiar with it. The sounds get realigned and it feels mixed differently on each set up.

Agree with all of this. Home alone for the first time in forever so I’m cranking this album and it’s amazing how different songs are hitting.

Neurons is fucking huge.

IT’S 7/7 HAVE YOU LISTENED TO 7S TODAY YET???

Hey Bog —> Sweeper’s Grin —> Neurons is up there with the best AC three song runs. Each of those tracks are massive and special. Distinct magical places but clearly connected (neurons lol—are cobwebs pulleys and neurons all essentially the same song? am I missing other Dave pathway songs? not actually serious about this)

Hey Bog is my favorite but Neurons is pretty close. Love how crunchy it sounds and the kalimba is so delicious. The live performance of that was unreal and Avey at his most unhinged. Idk may be talking myself into liking it more than Hey Bog. I found this album a little underwhelming on first listen and it’s true that I still don’t really get the Musical (which I loved on first listen) but Dave is absolutely serving up some of his best work. Happy 7 to all and to all a good 7

Happy 7sday! Don't wanna repeat myself too much, but yeah, this album is great. Ive worn it out a bit already though so I haven't listened today and agreed about the 3 song run there being one of the best

Am I right in thinking people like but don't love this? Feel like it hasn't received as much hype and gushing as many other things.

Musical through to Neurons is absolute peak Avey IMO. The others are good but not as much highlights to me. Invisible Darlings is cool also.

Am I right in thinking people like but don't love this? Feel like it hasn't received as much hype and gushing as many other things.

can only speak for myself but yeah i've always found it a hard album to get excited about, even if it has some perfectly good songs. up till neurons and cloud it sounds like full-on factory settings avey, and then once he starts turning the dials on those last two tracks i want him to just go back to default mode again unforch

I think I might like it the most on this forum honestly... No weak songs to me and because novelty is such a deal for me, I'd rather listen to this over any other Avey solo at the moment unless I'm in some kind of nostalgic phase, tho Cows/birds is still somewhat fresh too (but less good to me slightly imo!). It's in the same world as Cows/birds with slightly stronger songwriting and production especially imo

Also love Reset but this feels a whole lot meatier. It's like a weird more squiggly, wiggly take on skiffs era avey songs honestly

Yeh, I find it really bright, colourful and inviting. Even the long trancey middle tracks.

I guess I can see Stories and Games' perspective - its definitely not revelatory but it does reveal some awesome new corners of his sound.

I enjoy 7s, with the back half being a highlight for me. Hey Bog/Sweeper’s Grin are all-time favorite avey tracks for me. I must be in the minority here but I really like CSRS too! it’s such a bold and striking closer, and I appreciate that I can hear in it that early music/medieval influence he’s been talking about recently. and neurons is just fun, spiky, electric, tropical

idk I just still haven't had the space to take this one in. something about it is just really... maximal? like too loud, to dense. like CHz and PBVGR combined, bright and polished but also messy and overwhelming. I like hey bog but even then mainly it's because it sounds like down there, and I don't like the bridge much.

It'll open up to me eventually like slasher flicks did. I just gotta be tuned into solo avey in a way that less frequently lines up with my natural state

I think it took a live show for these songs to fully click… not to say the studio versions are bad of course but like roopn said it’s VERY maximal and helps to see how each song is constructed

I think it took a live show for these songs to fully click… not to say the studio versions are bad of course but like roopn said it’s VERY maximal and helps to see how each song is constructed

For sure. I didn't (and still don't) really like the album and almost skipped the show. I'm glad I went though because it was really inspiring and I think it will stand out as one of my favorite concerts ever. Dave is such an amazing performer.

I think it's pretty good. Aside from the last track, everything is an enjoyable listen, but I have to be in the mood for the closer and I turn the album off after neurons half the time. It does feel like he is repeating himself a bit on 7s. What's weird is that the one track that truly feels like it's treading some new ground (clouds) is the one I listened to the least.

CSRS is the best song on the album lol. Might be the most decisive AC song ever

foxtrot wrote:

Am I right in thinking people like but don't love this? Feel like it hasn't received as much hype and gushing as many other things.

can only speak for myself but yeah i've always found it a hard album to get excited about, even if it has some perfectly good songs. up till neurons and cloud it sounds like full-on factory settings avey, and then once he starts turning the dials on those last two tracks i want him to just go back to default mode again unforch

this is funny because I am obsessed with the first half and find the second half to be kind of a slog, or at best, whiplash from the poppier first few songs

I feel like CSRS is always in my head so Avey definitely did something right there

Last two do nothing for me but I can accept there's probably more there that I may come round to in time. First three are twee and quite irritating.

4&5 are great, moody Down There-esque nagging vamps.

This album really raises the question for me of what it is that distinguishes certain albums from others in terms of listening frequency. I like everything about it - I don't have any issues. It's distinctive, unique, well executed, creative. I just don't find myself putting it on that often. The interesting comp is Reset. I think I preferred 7s to Reset on my first few listens of each. But Reset gets way more play for me. It could be seasons? Reset is straight summer (and now there've been two summers with it). 7s is, what?, spring for a few songs, winter for a few others? That movement from start to finish is one of the things I love about 7s. But it could also contribute to me replaying it less often. I imagine I'll get back into 7s again come December . . . After IIN has been overplayed for a few months. Shall see.

7s feels like a wonderfully sunny day turning cloudy and getting drenched by a tropical thunderstorm in neurons. CSRS feels like walking through a cold, windy night after being soaked by the rain.