album of the week: 12.3

Animal Collective

Fall Be Kind

Domino (2009)

why you'll love it - the dark side of Merriweather Post Pavilion

why you'll hate it - half of it drones on and on

The excitement over Merriweather Post Pavilion that most of the internet is still feeling has all but left me. Conceptually, Animal Collective putting out a well produced and accessible love song album has been a success; but I prefer when their music comes from stranger places. The recent Fall Be Kind EP doesn't seem to do that as much I hoped it would.

"Graze" kicks the album off the same way MPP started, slow as hell, with a burst of energy in the second half. The peppy pan flute melody has novelty value, but it isn't worth slogging through the first three minutes for. "What Would I Want? Sky" follows the same pattern, sounding like two songs combined into one. The intro is slightly more bearable on this one, and the rest of the song stands alongside the best pop moments of MPP.

The next two songs are a complete waste of time. "Bleed" is a real bummer of a song. It sounds like the most depressing acid trip ever. "On A Highway" has an awful vocal melody that seems to never end.

"I Think I Can" is the big hit of this EP. It's creepy and alien (the kind of atmosphere I love best from AC), and the percussion is so powerful it's impossible to ignore.

Essentially what you have here are a couple filler tracks, and some good ones that would have given Merriweather Post Pavilion some much needed versatility, if they had been included. I think that even die hard Animal Collective cult worshippers would agree that this is their weakest release in the last few years.