Animal Collective

Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam

With the release of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper, the rules defining what pop music could sound like were expanded. Beneath innovative arrangements and the synthesizing several musical genres into a new sound, one could still bite into sweet melodicism and feel comfort. Animal Collective seems set to a similar trajectory as the Flaming Lips: a backlog of weird captivating early albums that have slowly evolved the aesthetics of pop into a palatable art the masses can finally consume. On Strawberry Jam, Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) and Avey Tare (Dave Portner) still push the boundaries of exploration with their trance-inducing repetitiveness and their fondness for noise-rock, but a balance is struck with their gorgeous Brian Wilson style harmonics and exuberant happy energy. Opening their album with a thick tangle of electronic mishmash that slowly unravels into a propulsive beat, “Peacebone” is a guiding indicator of the absurd delight that waits for you through is marvelous recording.