Review Summary: There's no rainbow on the end of their paintbrush just yet, but Animal Collective start playing with primary colours here and have a lot of fun doing so.
In 2004 Animal Collective released Sung Tongs. Whereas at the time it didn't make as big a splash as later records, the back catalogue of albums the Collective have on offer now provide great interest for the relative newcomer to the world that Avey Tare and Panda Bear bravely started marking out at the turn of this decade. It would be easy for someone to listen to Sung Tongs for the first time and declare that they've never heard anything like it before. It's certainly not the sort of thing playing on your friendly neighbourhood radio station, but its embrace is great. Although it most definitely stays within it's own realm of sound, it is a large realm that Animal Collective explore on this album, and to the band's credit they explore it admirably. To those unaware, Animal Collective's band ethos allows for band members to come and go when it comes to a new albums' release. This iteration of Animal Collective consisted of Avey Tare and Panda Bear the two band members present on every album under the AC title to date.
This album drops the electric guitar for its older brother, the acoustic, and it is most prominent here. Whilst the guitar itself almost always provides the ambience, and, dare I say, 'drive', for the songs, the vocals also play an important role in carrying the songs to their logical conclusion. In the songs 'Who Could Win a Rabbit' and 'Mouth Wooded Her', this effect comes off wonderfully, the latter indeed letting the vocals weave in and out of the fluctuating guitars. 'Rabbit' has the vocals and the guitar stitched together, and they're both more than happy in each others company.
This realisation does however lead us to one of the album's weaknesses. When Animal Collective do fall off the beaten track, it's more to do with having a lack of direction for the song, as neither the guitars nor the vocals seem truly invested in giving our ears the reward we were waiting for. It would be silly to review Sung Tongs and not mention the following album that Animal Collective go onto recording, Feels, as on Feels the band take a step closer to mixing the band's natural indulgence with the reward of melody. Because Sung Tongs is carried by the acoustic guitars and the vocal lines, when we lose either, or get prolonged repetition of one, it can be easy to feel like we are being carried along on a wave of unnecessary filler.
The lyrics that are easily recognisable are never too short of being playful here, remaining full of childish wonder. 'Kids on Holiday' throws 'Here we come mister airplane' at us. 'Leaf House' ends with a lot of 'Meows' and 'Kitties', and at the end of 'Who Could Win a Rabbit' you could swear Elmer Fudd drops in a few 'Wabbits' for good measure. One of the beauties of this album (and the same goes for many albums, not just Animal Collective's work) is the interpretation of the individual on what he hears. It isn't quite Hopelandic (see Sigur Ros), but the singing style of both Avey and Panda can leave many fans dissecting live performances trying to find out exactly what the lyrics being used are. Here's to advocating the idea that it's up to you; if you think it's 'Thank you for your freedom' in 'Rabbit', then it doesn't matter if you're wrong, just make sure you sing it really loud. Louder than the guy with the sheet of paper in his hands.
The truth is, Animal Collective have created a brilliant array of songs, each one of them conjuring up different images and ideas whilst keeping the album consistent in the genre it is happy to ground itself. 'Leaf House' is the sound of children playing Cowboys and Indians then making up when one side 'gets' the other. 'Who Could Win a Rabbit' is waking up on a Saturday and realising you can do everything or nothing but you have a feeling that you'd much prefer to do everything. 'Sweet Road' is sitting on your porch drinking lemonade as the neighbourhood and their dog goes by. 'College' is the sound of staying up all night, and in the morning regretting staring into the sunlight as it starts to ache your heavy eyes. 'We Tigers' is the sound of you and your best friend deciding which animal you're going to be when you grow up then deciding you both want to be TIGERS. A lot of the fun that comes with exciting records such as this one is finding your own images. I could go in depth about every track and explain how each one works, but I would much rather highly recommend giving this album a spin, and hopefully you will find your own way.
It would be fantastic to give this album a 5 rating, as it is filled with energetic musicianship and wonderful individual songs all within the realm Animal Collective decided to govern over for this album. Sadly there is still a lingering sense of self-indulgence on some tracks which tend to alienate many listeners (such as 'The Softest Voice' and in particular 'Visiting Friends' in this writer's opinion), but the melodies that shine brightest on here, the playful rhythms, and the innocent lyrics are all markers along a path that lead Animal Collective from here to being one of the most relevant bands of the decade. This isn't the classic freak folk album, but damn, it's a lot of fun.
