Collected Animals

The secret songs between songs. We've waited 100 years for on-album transitions and we finally have them (TR's transitions dont count or something).

Tempted to put R&D's intro but it kinda gets right into it. Also RIP to DS intro/outro. .


I really love the lil mini song at end of Walker, but I think it will change soon

Also have y'all taken the AnCo pledge to protest P4K's abusive score? check it out! viewtopic.php?f=20&t=18963

Car Keys outro is god tier. First time I heard it I did NOT it expect it to build like that, blew me away. And what is that sample!? Hammered dulcimer? Dropping pennies on guitar strings? So tactile and sweet.

those big spacey descending notes in the Prester John outro might still be my fav individual sound on the album....so that one for now

I kinda wish they didn’t format the transitions for 2LP vinyl since Car Keys would lead so nicely into Prester. Instead it goes quiet and then starts up with very similar sounds

I also noticed the intro to Strung sounds very similar to the outro to Walker (softly clanging percussion over airy synth ambience), which is interesting since that order is flipped in the sequence. I wonder if that plays into the whole Skiffing thru Time theme

Anyway all this is to say my favorite outro is Cherokee

I think Prester John might be my favourite in terms of the narrative it suggests to me - if the main song is this beautiful lament for the collapse of civilisation, the outro is the collapse actually happening. No more time for heroics or introspection, just fire blowing through a city or forest at frightening speed, choking up the night with thick clouds of orange smoke, sparks spreading in the breeze. The light of explosions illuminating the distant skyline. No people in the streets, no wildlife fleeing. The hurdy-gurdy just an echo of old modes of life and culture that physically can't exist anymore, a true image of a moment that's passed.

^Damn yeah, hurdy gurdy outro is the actual sound of whatever Prester John is symbolic of actually having "[broken] down"

I shoulda already titled them but uh, Walker one can be called "Ions". Prester is like Hurdy Gurdy something.

Open to suggestions. Walker is the songiest one and I love how its this organic riff on the xylophone part. Other ones feel more like actual live transitions.

I think Prester John might be my favourite in terms of the narrative it suggests to me - if the main song is this beautiful lament for the collapse of civilisation, the outro is the collapse actually happening. No more time for heroics or introspection, just fire blowing through a city or forest at frightening speed, choking up the night with thick clouds of orange smoke, sparks spreading in the breeze. The light of explosions illuminating the distant skyline. No people in the streets, no wildlife fleeing. The hurdy-gurdy just an echo of old modes of life and culture that physically can't exist anymore, a true image of a moment that's passed.

My thoughts exactly a few months ago!! Great write up. Ive been going pretty hard reading the lyrics today so I'm thinking I might post an analysis myself soon.

I was hoping for real transitions between songs on time skiffs like on MPP or CHz. So the thread title is kinda misleading. I was initially a bit disappointed that there are pauses between all the songs, but I think that this will be a good thing in the end, because I'll surely make some huge playlists with the TS2 songs when it drops.
I was 100% sure that car keys would transition into prester john just by the way the song just starts so abruptly with the rim shots and clangy samples. It's really weird to have expected a smooth transition for months, ever since the prester single dropped, but then there is no transition. I remember when I first heard the transition from Heather in the Hospital to Lucky 1 and what an awesome surprise that was. Cars Keys/Prester is the exact opposite experience, lol.

Shit, I guess "transition" is sorta the wrong word. I still think they count in terms of how they affect the overall pacing.

MPP and CHZ ones are nice cuz of the Heather-->Lucky 1 effect but those also feel less substantial to me despite the fact that, yeah, I guess they're more literally "transitions"

Is 'jam' the more correct word? eh idk

I was hoping for real transitions between songs on time skiffs like on MPP or CHz.

One of my AC dreams is for a cassette (+ digital) only studio release with big long transitions between songs, 30-45 mins each side to really let the songs breathe.

bullseye wrote:

I was hoping for real transitions between songs on time skiffs like on MPP or CHz.

One of my AC dreams is for a cassette (+ digital) only studio release with big long transitions between songs, 30-45 mins each side to really let the songs breathe.

Fingers crossed that they went that route with skiffs 2.

Skiffs 2 can seriously just be Magicians, Defeat and Genies with some massive ambient stretches/transitions.

Very looking forward to Stride Right more than anything else

I was hoping for real transitions between songs on time skiffs like on MPP or CHz.

Real on CHz sure, transitions done in the mixing process just sounds like cross fading to me. But I'm spoiled by the random magic they can pull in a live setting. Even some of the stuff they do on Ark is more distracting than "oh wow!" revelatory

car keys outro is good but knowing what it could've been really soured me on it at first (the pitchfork '21 version is one of my favorite things they've ever done)

I think Prester John might be my favourite in terms of the narrative it suggests to me - if the main song is this beautiful lament for the collapse of civilisation, the outro is the collapse actually happening. No more time for heroics or introspection, just fire blowing through a city or forest at frightening speed, choking up the night with thick clouds of orange smoke, sparks spreading in the breeze. The light of explosions illuminating the distant skyline. No people in the streets, no wildlife fleeing. The hurdy-gurdy just an echo of old modes of life and culture that physically can't exist anymore, a true image of a moment that's passed.

this

Car Keys, even though it isn't as jammy as the live outro. It's a nice continuation of the song where the other ones feel like bits and pieces that just fit the album thematically.

car keys outro is good but knowing what it could've been really soured me on it at first (the pitchfork '21 version is one of my favorite things they've ever done)

You might like what I've done to it in my tentative AxeWorld-style Skiffs rework: https://vocaroo.com/1hxTPs2OMgvk

i do like that very much, great job. and you got the transition to dragon slayer in there as well? perfect

Car Keys, even though it isn't as jammy as the live outro. It's a nice continuation of the song where the other ones feel like bits and pieces that just fit the album thematically.

for sure! don't get me wrong i still like it, avey's tremoloed vocals are super trippy and everything builds really nicely. it's actually grown on me a lot, along with the rest of the studio version. it's maybe even more thematically appropriate than the live version, given the kind of dark nature of the song, though nowhere near as catchy

captainlunatic wrote:

car keys outro is good but knowing what it could've been really soured me on it at first (the pitchfork '21 version is one of my favorite things they've ever done)

You might like what I've done to it in my tentative AxeWorld-style Skiffs rework: https://vocaroo.com/1hxTPs2OMgvk

yoooo this was really good! thanks for sharing. i put it on in the car earlier and when the live bass and vocals came in i started smiling and singing along like they were always there

that was so well done Tikwid. loved it. so many great little vocals parts that they've thrown into this outro in various iterations.

captainlunatic wrote:

car keys outro is good but knowing what it could've been really soured me on it at first (the pitchfork '21 version is one of my favorite things they've ever done)

You might like what I've done to it in my tentative AxeWorld-style Skiffs rework: https://vocaroo.com/1hxTPs2OMgvk

This is so good good GOOD!

Didn’t they say something about the Car Keys transition in the media cycle? It feels like the album transition came about and developed into something more when they hit the 2021 tour. I’d put the album transition at a 7/10 and the tour one a 10/10. It just feels like a more classic AC moment.