So Geologist is in his bedroom on the communal MS-DOS machine from '91, slowly loading up some optical illusion websites like amazeyourbrain on 56k. "Hey Noah!" he calls out still facing the screen. He can't look away. Noah rushes in, looking down at something in his hands and says "Hey man, look what I picked up round the back of the..." and as his eyes catch the CRT monitor, his excitement for his new acquisition immediately subsides, his shoulders slump, and his epiglottis contracts. "No. Way." Countless breaths are taken until "I've seen that before. Backstage at the Merriweather in Maryland this chick gave me this dot. I think she called it a Windowpane or something. She took one too and until the next day I was seeing THAT", his nail makes a chinking sound on the screen. "Man. I thought I'd never see it again. Shit." The house should feel a little empty with Deakin not around. He's taken his guitars and most of his pedals, but Panda Bear got some new ones, so the lighter patches on the floor weren't bare for too long. Most of them seem to be echo or loop-pedals, but Avey Tare rehashed some of the electronics so their long black leads can be followed up the back of multiple synths. "No problem". A box of mics sits in the corner, and next to them various barrel-sized drums. And Animal Collective have crafted a beautiful piece of music. Not moving far away from their previous works, the group have still managed to crawl deep into the uncharted crags of their imagination, and emerge with sackfuls of fresh sounds. Heavily-relying on repetition, many of the songs sound like their bottom-most layer is being played over and over on a sagging reel-to-reel tape spliced by Steve Reich. Carefully assembling myriad layers on these fragile bases, the band balance dreamy harmonies with pounding rhythms, Frankie Knuckles samples, and apparently even find time to let Lathozi Mpahleni Manquin Madosini from the King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa to play a home-made instrument on one song. What fascinates me is music's ability to create feeling. No two conceptions of ethereality can be the same, yet many people envisage the spiritual world in similar ways. Animal Collective's perfect music leaves one with the incomparable sense of listening to unique familiarity. And I thought improving on clouds was impossible.

Andrew Spyrou

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