Animal Collective - Peacebone (Domino)
5/5
By: Charlie Potter
Well, whilst it is a shame that Fat Cat don't seem to be able to hold on to their bands when they get big, being on Domino could work out really well for Animal Collective.
'Peacebone', our first taste of the forthcoming LP 'Strawberry Jam', is not just another Animal Collective track. It's unlike anything you've ever heard from them, or anyone else, ever before. I love it. It's brilliant, and I love it.
A friend recently observed how every instrument in an Animal Collective work is always playing an interesting rhythm, and that's certainly something the continue with here. Turning conventional musical arrangement on its head seems such a hard thing for the human brain to do but whenever someone manages to do it, it sounds like the future.
The underlying rhythm of 'Peacebone' comes from a crusty, delayed electronic GameBoy-esque sound, rhythmically blathering all over the place with a feel like a swarm of flies indulging in a rave. Yet it turns into a thumping, guitar-lead circus rhythm, accentuated by the off beat bangs of a distant timpani. The overall effect is an incredibly exciting, bouncy, electric song that's deceptively slow. In true Animal Collective style there's enough reverb on it to make you feel immersed in a gigantic ocean of music - happily psychotic music - and that the blood flowing through you might be bubbling.
I still like to imagine that in their free time Animal Collective like to dance around in a forest covered in blood and feathers, screaming, happily. At one point, 'Peacebone' manages to peak into a terrifyingly insane scream pure of joy. Apparently some people have missed this intensely, aggressively joyful undercurrent to their music, so listen out for it because it's there I tell ya, and it makes you feel good to be a live with a sort of visceral happiness. There are lines like 'the taste of your cooking can make me bow on the ground'. Thank you, Animal Collective. Thank you.
What' s more, with the addition of an amazing nine minute b-side, this single verges on being fifteen minutes long in total. Our editor thinks that the b-side might even better than 'Peacebone'. He's wrong, but I can see his point - this song has got so much to it, bits of melody and rhythm that come and go in a way that is no way crowded or overworked, weird voice samples, low hums, a plethora of different percussion instruments, all just exuding their gentle energy, slowly rising up into a slow current that is impossible not to get swept away with.
Watch a live performance of 'Peacebone' HERE.
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