Collected Animals

I understand that comparisons are pointless, but I'm interested in what other anco fans think.

I vote Avey. He wrote ridiculous bangers (Burglars, floridada, golden gal) which are in order my favorites on the album after Hocus Pocus. Panda went off in glorious fashion on recycling and natural selection and lying in the grass. It's tough.. I think Pandas vocals on Aveys songs improved Aveys songs (vertical, burglars, all of them honestly) more than Avey improved Pandas but then again Avey was mostly echoing on pandas idk i love literally all 12

cant vote cuz i literally think i like their songs equally. first couple days i listened to this i mighta said avey cuz those jumped out to me a bit more at first, but panda's are all amazingly solid and his crazy vocal arrangements seem really new for ac. aveys vocal arrangements are just as cool and way different... their songs are 2 sides of the same coin on this album and kind of have this counterpoint synergy going on, its pretty sweet. feel like they hinted at that on mpp but rlly nailed it here evn harder

agreed^
this is a tough vote, bordering on impossible

bordering on impossible

I know I felt bad when I was choosing lol

I think Pandas vocals on Aveys songs improved Aveys songs more than Avey improved Pandas

Great way to put it!

I voted Avey...I'll admit it. I chose, in a drunken state, to make my decision hastily, and as such ended up voting Avey.

I just really love them bagels....

They all wrote the best songs
because all of them wrote all the songs

u gotta give this 1 to avey i think......panda's songs are awesome too though no doubt, but a micron of an edge to aves.

I think they wrote just as good songs as each other, but maybe avey used stronger hooks?
Even then, I find myself with LITG, Natural Selection, Recycling or Spilling Guts stuck in my head just as much as Vertical, Burglars, On Delay or Golden Gal. So who knows?

also

They all wrote the best songs
because all of them wrote all the songs

I've said a number of times 'it's Dave's band' but ultimately, they're all co-writers and producers here, aside from the lyrics.

they're all co-writers and producers here, aside from the lyrics.

They wrote each other's vocals and split the songs 6 and 6, which makes the two sets of songs distinctive. Very much so

Anco has been messing with my head these past 6 days (+3 counting the crosley rip), my favorite song is changing multiple times daily. RECYCLING BURGLARS HOCUS GOLDENGAL SELECTION BAGELS x30 .....


.. then on delay plays

Stanshant wrote:

they're all co-writers and producers here, aside from the lyrics.

They wrote each other's vocals and split the songs 6 and 6, which makes the two sets of songs distinctive. Very much so

yeah the vocal melody writing duties were split between avey and panda and that makes them distinctive

but the compositions as a whole, is a three way contribution between dave, noah and brian

each album says 'written by animal collective' in their respective credits, and it says that for a reason
it just rubs me the wrong way that people just assume that whoever sings and/or provided the original demo is responible for the entire song
leads to a dumb belief that deakin and geologist are expendable members

Yeah I hear that Pan.

davidvidvid wrote:

Stanshant wrote:

they're all co-writers and producers here, aside from the lyrics.

They wrote each other's vocals and split the songs 6 and 6, which makes the two sets of songs distinctive. Very much so

yeah the vocal melody writing duties were split between avey and panda and that makes them distinctive

but the compositions as a whole, is a three way contribution between dave, noah and brian

Listen, avey and panda literally said that the vocal harmonies on this album drive the songs. that being said, when you listen to PW you get to hear a shit ton of brilliant, mind-dumbing geo creations. result: an absolutely beautiful three-pronged effort

Can I write in my vote?

Avey definitely dominated this album, which isn't surprising considering how much material Panda put out on PBVSGR. I can't imagine him not being a little creatively exhausted at this point.

That isn't to say his contributions to the album weren't enjoyable though.

SouvlakiPlaystation

Great name dude

Avey definitely dominated this album, which isn't surprising considering how much material Panda put out on PBVSGR. I can't imagine him not being a little creatively exhausted at this point.

That isn't to say his contributions to the album weren't enjoyable though.

But he also wrote the majority of those songs in the first half of 2013- 3 years ago. I don't think he's creatively exhausted. LITG and Recycling are favorites for a lot of people. i am a fan of his songs on this record. They all took some time to grow. Dave definitely wrote the most immediate songs on the record.

If anything, Noah was creatively exhausted during chz- a tomboy leftover (ntb, which slays to be fair) and one other jam that most agree sounded better be on tour than recorded (Rosie oh)

I had to vote for Panda because I think its a tie..

Judging purely on how the songs sound when Panda or Avey are singing, knowing well its inconclusive who actually wrote/influenced the songs or how much of them.

Pandas vocals on spilling guts alone kill me..

Only comparing because its the question, but to be honest its hard to really compare. Apples and Oranges as they say.

I voted Panda. Ive always been way more into Avey's songs than Panda's on past releases so I'm surprised that I like Hocus Pocus and Summing the Wretch more than any of Avey's songs on the album (though it's getting to be a closer and closer call as I hear more of The Burglars and On Delay). But I really think Panda's songs and the hocketing effect anchor this album as a cohesive whole since Avey's songs are all so dramatically different from each other.

Avey definitely has the songs that are immediately likeable

All the Panda tracks have been growers on PW

I think burglars and on delay are my favorite on the album overall, but spilling guts and natural selection are so close to the same level that there's no way i could choose. really dig panda's arrangements. feel like his songs could be played on violin or something and itd be really cool. i bet the style could be even further developed on next pb/ac thing...

avey's are great too... the verses in vertical are kind of insane.. very cool and natural sounding counterpoint, kind of like taste. and on delay has that thing where it becomes less clear whos singing lead in the main verse. the blending of their voices on this album in general is pretty amazing.

also been wondering how much panda is harmonizing (doing a double-track of aveys?) in golden gal, cuz that one stands out for having just avey in so much of it, but i feel like i hear panda blended in slightly before he comes in for the big refrain half way thru... could be imagining it tho

also been wondering how much panda is harmonizing (doing a double-track of aveys?) in golden gal, cuz that one stands out for having just avey in so much of it, but i feel like i hear panda blended in slightly before he comes in for the big refrain half way thru... could be imagining it tho

Yea I hear the back tracking too

I'd vote Avey because I'm starting to feel like Panda's songs structures and how his songs develope has gotten very stale over these last few years. Like sometimes his sound ideas are awesomely huge and atmospheric, but at least Avey will generally write more than 2 parts to his song. In the case of PW, Panda can't even use all the lovely reverb/delay he's used to, so some of his tracks like Bagels just fail to establish an interesting sonic perspective.

I do agree that Panda heavily enhances anything Avey writes however and AC wouldn't sound as magical without him.

Bagels is avey

kinda wish panda wrote a song like bagels where avey is the more prominent lead voice, love hearing panda singing aveys melody/lyrics so clearly. seems like the vice-versa of that would be rlly cool too.. guess litg is kiiind of approaching that since dave has first syllable.

Bagels is avey

Whhaaaat? It sounds so much like PBVtGR, and structure-wise it fits in more with Panda's style.

Sauce plox?

(Haha, don't why I feel compelled to have someone to blame for Bagels in Kiev)

Sauce plox?

idk avey said in a bunch of recent interviews how it's about his eastern euro heritage and how his grandpa is from kiev.

Also: I dig those who say panda's voice enhances avey's songs more thasn vice-versa, but I'd like to point out that Avey singing lead on Lying in the Grass really elevates it. Very unique from the rest of the tracklist

I like avey's songs about 100% more than pandy's. The only panda song I really like was LITG. Otherwise, I didn't even care for his tracks much.

I think in general the songwriting from both Avey and Panda is super elevated on this record.

Avey's songwriting especially seems like a total reining in of what he seemed to be developing on CHZ and Slasher Flicks, which isn't to say either of those albums weren't developed in their own right. It seems like his songwriting on both of those albums was playing with the idea of abrupt harmonic changes as a way of giving form to the song, and on Painting With he's executing those key changes and sectional composition so succinctly and with a real sense of play that is confounding.

Likewise, Panda's songwriting on Painting With seems to be a sort of grand summary of his songwriting of the last few years. Much more playful arrangements, introducing more out of key chords and chromatic movements in his melody writing, and of course the hocketing. I think his style refinement is much more subtle than Avey's on PW, but still substantial and super strong.

I think in the past, AC has thrived in utilizing atmosphere as a primary factor in the songwriting. It seems like the rejection of the more atmospheric side of their songwriting has injected the music with a different sense of driving purpose. While the songs aren't so soundscapey as before, each section of every song seems necessary, and speaks perfectly and concisely with every other section of the song.

Whereas before I might say the strongest factor of their songwriting was the atmosphere they were able to conjure, it seems on Painting With the strongest factor is the actual raw song materials--melody, form, etc. (not that these weren't already great parts of their earlier albums, I just feel like they haven't made an album before that so directly showcased just how fucking good they are at writing a song).

Anyway, all raving aside, I think my point is that I love all of the songs on this album, and think they all represent different triumphs of songwriting.

^ya i agree with a lot of that, well said! definitely feel like they're songwriting here is in a reeeally good place. it kind of reminds of mpp a bit in the way the songs seem rooted in some kind of classic songwriting tradition... avey talked about tin pan alley and like cole porter songs and stuff and i really do get the feeling of these really well-developed and purposefully, articulately written songs on this album. and with panda he almost seems like some classical composer with some of his vocal arrangements... theyre so precise, and it really seems like some next-level for him as a writer. with hocketing/and the counterpoint here, it seems like he's figured out a way to make harmony something more rhythmic... idk i love the songs-as-songs on chz too, but these songs just seem so fully realized and would all sound great stripped down to their bare basics... similar imo to mpp songs except these songs are usually a bit more complex seeming