Animal Collective ★★★★★
Merriweather Post Pavilion
DOMINO. LP
Fifteenth anniversary double vinyl repress of neo-psychedelic classic.
Titled after a woodland amphitheatre in Columbia, Maryland where members of Animal Collective saw inspirational concerts during their formative years, 2009’s Merriweather Post Pavilion set a new bar for trippy electronica. It caught them at a juncture where the temporary departure of guitarist Deakin (Josh Gibb) and the arrival of producer Ben H. Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Puff Daddy) brought new angles, added polish and low-end heft. In the studio, hand-triggering samples and ’80s analogue synth sequences coated in echo and reverb, they indulged in hall-of-mirror improvisations, conducted while the band were playing loud and through PA systems, to capture the swirling energy of their live shows, as best evidenced here by polyrhythmic thumper Brother Sport. Standout My Girls took The Beach Boys onto the rave dancefloor and the overall result was an avant-garde pop that bent its influences into something utterly unique.