•
Rating: Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished.
The saga of Animal Collective begins right here. A psychedelic revival of rare beauty and effectiveness, the perfect bridge between the psychedelia of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Beach Boys, Barrett, Flaming Lips are the recognizable influences, mixed together from which the Collective draws in search of the perfect journey, the ultimate cerebral experience. Avey Tare (David Portner) and Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) are the minds behind the project, guys from Baltimore who conceived the first signs of their art amidst the provincial woods: anarchy, primitivism, LSD. Truckloads and truckloads of LSD, a defining feature of a distinct freak attitude personified with infinite class and calm nostalgia, which the duo will never renounce and which will characterize their rise over the years.
The album is a complex and eccentric manifesto of their art. A folk-electronic with psychedelic shades where experimentation is continuous and constant, it does not fear becoming dominant and overshadowing the melody. Electronic reverberations set the stage for the first track, "Spirit They've Vanished," a long and tormented hypnotic whistle that marks the beginning of the journey, the path in search of our most hidden self. In "April And The Phantom," bolstered by an elegant electronic cadence and agitated tribalism, the playful spirit, anchored in an eternal desire for youth, materializes, not caring about the relentless passage of time but mocking it. There's the maddened music box of "Penny Dreadfuls," the touching "Chocolate Girl," a long and engaging piano elegy by Avey Tare, and the best of the bunch, "Everyone Whistling," eight minutes of rhythmic crescendo, touched by a magical and unreal atmosphere. Pure ecstasy, awakening of the senses, well-being, an awareness of ourselves in a fantastic world in which we dream of identifying. The charm of innocence. Innocence that is not naivety, but is innocence aware of being such. Innocence that looks beyond the present, guides us to shores never seen before, dominates our imagination, colors the world. "Bat You'll Fly" is a celebration of emotions. The guests are not just any guests. At the party, gnomes, fairies, and elves participate, celebrating in their fantastic world the momentary detachment from ours. A completely new dimension. We fully understand it when "Someday I'll Grow To Be As Tall As The Giant" begins, the ultimate psychic and temporal detachment. Bells, space sounds, annoying little voices. Definitive abandonment.
The last track, untitled, is a long tour de force that slowly brings us back to life, the one we know for sure will never be the same as we remembered. Our journey is over, but for Animal Collective, it's likely never to end.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 April and the Phantom (05:53)
When April passes by, she thinks of saying bye
She tells her mother, I am not afraid
Of dying in the bath, or swinging from up here
She asks her mother if she slept with strangers
Phantom was the bright way out
Of all the things her mother said
A whisper to her scream
An autumn in my green
December, hello frost
Her mother would say "Dad,
I don't know where April went"
She ran out in nature!
She ran out in nature!
She ran out in nature!
She ran out in nature!
She ran out in nature…
I found the Phantom would go
Across the river and hide from suffering
Like the shades of trees
Take off my dress and flow into the stuff we’re in
She ran out in nature
What'd she find?
She ran out in nature
Where'd she go?
She ran out in nature
Phantom light
She ran out in nature
Take her home
Everybody wants it!
Aaah! Can't you see me wastin’?
She ran out in nature…
We've gotta buy land
When they go out and take all the stuff we’re in
We've got neither, reachin' for the stars
And beg and keep us sufferin’
She ran out in nature
What'd she find?
She ran out in nature
Where'd she go?
She ran out in nature
Can't somebody
She ran out in nature
Take her home?
Everybody wants it!
Aaah! Can't you see me wastin’!
I finally see a baby girl,
I’m sorry April, but you'll be fine ‘til then,
I'm the Phantom,
I'm the Phantom,
I'm the Phantom,
And I sneak around, and you're on top,
A frenzy April, let me write it down
I'm the Phantom,
I'm the Phantom,
I'm the Phantom,
And in the end, your mother knows,
I’m sorry April, but a child grows
I'm the Phantom,
I'm the Phantom,
I'm the Phantom,
I am…
Watch me as I lead the way
From infancy to grown up babies
-Phantom, please put on my make-up!
I am breathin’, I’ll keep callin'
-Phantom, you're all white and naked!
Have your baby, I'll keep callin'
-I'm not right, I'm not fakin'!
I am burnin’, and I'm shakin'
-April, no, it's just a spirit!
I am there, end is nearin’
April and the Phantom
They were just like lovers
Always sneakin' kisses for the weekend
Everything's just okay with me
Everything's just alright with…
April and the Phantom spoke in secret code
Until they buried Phantom by the road
Everything's just alright with me...
Everything’s just alright with Phantom…
Kid has got no friends…
Kid has got no friends at all
10 Alvin Row (12:39)
Baby love me now that you are born
Oh! Baby!
Baby in your cradle look at me
Baby speak in rhythms now you're three
Ride your German Shepherd 'till you're five
Baby think the TV is alive
Baby spend the night out you're thirteen
Bending for a wish your candles leaned
Baby bang erasers and wash the board,
Think just yesterday you wore a sword
Watch your new years evening wash away
You're on the floor, can you hear me troubadour?
Alvin row tangled in your broken kite
It's hard to be Ben Franklin but,
Try staying against the light
Old clapper you can step inside
Accustomed to the rust your silver child
Alvin Row, we're glad to see that you can't fake it
White corn grow on every side
But you can't take it, the yellow wardrobes suits you fine
Alvin all these visions smile
Let them do your makeup I know
Alvin Row, half of them are on your side
The other figments all are being completely unselfish
And all behind the right man here
My mommy's not unkind it's just not open
Alvin Row, I watched the mime cryin' his winches
Brown black bag, we'll let you be until you'll fade
Now fade, now fade,
Now fade, now.......
Tired of reaching for the lampshade
Baby reading, baby love me
Ruuuuuuuun! Ruuuuuuuuun!
Ruuuuuuuun! Ruuuuuuuuun!
Ruuuuuuuun! Ruuuuuuuuun!
Ruuuuuuuun! Ruuuuuuuuun!
I told the baker's daughter that I didn't want the water
She only likes it when I beg, so I expect she's waiting
I told the baker's daughter that I didn't want their water
She only likes it when I beg, so I expect she's waiting
Row, Alvin Row, Alvin Row, Alvin Row, Row Alvin
I remember the day that I walked away from this empty flight
Cause the demons are really the ones when there's nothing on
Would slip by when I'm silent I have to let so many people down
But the bell from the ice cream man comes to save the day
The winter comes we do not wander, I belong
The chocolate shakes, the sun awakes, I play ping pong
The autumn clouds distort and crowd gepetto lawn ????
I pulled the glass it dripped too fast for second dawn
Since we passed through the maze as we unlock the stage of my other ride
I remember the shining, the spot on the day she played
Though I never know Moses I know many noses with thoughts like me
Take a drive to the Jacksonville pharmacy and pretend
But a new apartment and a heart don't make me old
This is spinal rage and lit a page and I've been told
But I'm walking on a wire with eight other eyes
Be sure to play the best of you eight other sides
I'll stay shy, you stay shy
Dear Alvin
I'll say bye, you say bye
Dear Alvin
I'll say go, you say go
Dear Alvin
I'll sing Row, you sing Row
Dear Alvin
I'll stay shy, you stay shy
Dear Alvin
I'll say bye, you say bye
Dear Alvin
I'll say go, you say go
Dear Alvin
I'll sing Row, you sing Row
Dear Alvin
I'll say go, you say go
Dear Alvin
Child: "Well that's funny, my voice didn't come back to me
I'll try it again:
Hello? Hello?!
Oh my goodness!
Now my singing voice is gone!
...my singing voice is gone
(repeated)
...my singing voice is..."
Loading comments slowly
