With the "Water Curses", Animal Collective brings us four new, memorable, beautiful songs that all likely rank among their most expressive and catchy compositions. The instrumentation consists of the same shimmering, synthesized, chorused, flanged sorts of sounds found on their latest "Merriweather Post Pavilion", but the songs are much sparser, more spacious, less laden with harmonies. The water theme that began here seems to have been continued on that album... the whole feels fresh and alive. This EP would be the perfect next purchase for fans who've just gotten into Animal Collective with that album.
The songs themselves are pleasantly diverse. "Water Curses" is a classic sugar high Animal Collective singalong in the grand tradition of "Who Could Win a Rabbit?" or "Grass", complete with hyper-speed Avey Tare lyrics and odd rhythms.
"Street Flash" is a longer, more minimal song dominated by soft processed piano chords echoing in rhythm. The song seems content to just hang there in its blissed out sunshine space for its 6 minute duration, but Panda Bear's lyrics and vocal melody are beautiful. When I first heard the piercing scream that punctuates the end of many of the lines, I thought it didn't fit, but now it belongs in some strange way. Panda Bear sings of 'inside fever', something we've all experienced... The song ends, "and what were all those troubles on my mind? Oh, I took a walk..." Classic Animal Collective optimism. Experimental music so often falls on the darker end of the spectrum, it's nice to see this sort of feeling in a group who sounds like this.
"Cobwebs" is the most ambitious song on the album, progressing through a series of sections and ending with a dramatic wall of noise we haven't heard the likes of which since "Feels".
"Seal Eyeing" is one of the most relaxing, beautiful songs I know of. Three minutes of dreamy piano and Panda crooning "swim in sunshine..."
In conclusion, this is a great little EP. Psychedelic pop of the highest order, and their most accessible release aside from their newest "Merriweather Post Pavilion". If these are really "Strawberry Jam", they're better than many of the tracks from that album. 5 stars.
5つ星のうち5.0An amazing EP that's like the calm before the storm
2021年5月15日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済み
Amazonで購入
Water Curses is an amazing EP that followed the amazing Strawberry Jam. There's a lot of the watery texture that occurs in Merriweather, but the bright and powerful electronics of Strawberry Jam still stand strong. It's crazy how amazingly talented every member of Animal Collective is, and this is only a small dose of their powerful and beautiful discography.
5つ星のうち5.0... is probably the record that made me fall in love with Animal Collective
2015年12月21日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済み
Amazonで購入
Water Curses is probably the record that made me fall in love with Animal Collective. No--maybe that's not true. It's the record that made me fall in love with /this/ Animal Collective--the one that strays away from wild organic sound to something grounded more in bleep bloop elements.
Really, Water Curses might be one of my favorite EPs of all time, to compete only with other Animal Collective EPs. Where other bands make EPs feel like throwaways, Animal Collective makes them feel like complete albums. I love every song on this record and love owning it on vinyl. It's just awesome okay.
i haven't enjoyed an animal collective album since sung tongs, i think. it's been a while. i got to see them at all points west, i wished i hadn't. and i was a big fan of their earlier, more experimental pop. this stuff, they're writing more direct songs with noise that doesn't fit anymore. it's like they forgot how to blend the noise with the beauty. i bought this to fill out my super-saver shipping requirement, and i'd have been better off paying for shipping, this album wasted a solid 20 minutes of my life.