A sort of If I Could Only Remember My Name for a new generation, Eucalyptus finds Portner going back-to-basics, taking listeners on a psychedelic but steady trip over 15 tracks with atmospheric and shifting samples ("Lunch Out of Order" Pt. 1 and 2), Sung Tongs-style guitar work ("Jackson 5," "PJ" and opener "Season High") and spaced-out instrumentation (the twisted "Boat Race" and lo-fi drone of "Dr aw one").

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Drowned in Sound

He’s revisiting some of the most fertile soil of his past work - bringing together his childlike enthusiasm with his penchant for gloomy undercurrents - and making it all sound as fresh and blissful as ever. It’s undoubtedly Avey’s best solo work to date

There are a few too many noodling sound collages across its 15 tracks, but at its peak – on the delicate, maudlin Ms Secret or the chirpingly melodic Jackson 5 – Eucalyptus reminds you of what made Tare and his bandmates such a thrillingly different prospect in the first place.

Eucalyptus stands unexpectedly far apart from much of Avey Tare’s solo output, dialing in his usual unhinged zaniness for a calm, collected stream of songs that flirt with accessibility without sacrificing their loose, dispersed sense of assemblage.

The overflow of ideas, lyrics, and themes doesn’t turn spastic and blurry like it has on records past. Eucalyptus, though adventurous, is down to earth and focused.

Recorded with Animal Collective part-timer Josh Dibb, Avey Tare’s Eucalyptus could never be accused of pandering—no album as slack and rickety as this has sights on the masses—yet in some ways it embodies a romantic ideal that’s nearly as sure-fire as Merriweather’s imagining of a perfect pop album: the reclusive, personal record, written seemingly with no expectation that anybody will even hear it.

Not that this record is a great departure from his past discography, but if you are looking for the "Reverend Green" screaming Avey Tare to make an appearance, you will be disappointed. Still, this is David Portner at his most raw and exposed, a songwriter who has never been afraid to bridge the gap between the experimental and the familiar.

With Eucalyptus it's clear that Avey Tare is not going for coherency, as he's brought together a sonic smorgasbord of home tapings, demos and found sounds, and pieces them together in a way that’s beguiling and confusing in equal measure.

With a playing time of over an hour, and a reflective, more often than not formless complexion, even acknowledging its subtle whimsy and California roots, Eucalyptus goes by like a long drive through the plains, rewarding the patient and attentive.

‘Eucalyptus’ is a dense and challenging listen, but while it might alienate post-‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ converts to Animal Collective, it might bring back those who loved ‘Campfire Songs’ but have felt disenfranchised since.

Northern Transmissions

Dropping listeners into sprawling soundscapes through each track, there’s rarely anything boring sounding, but it’s not always a constant thrill-ride. Hovering on many ideas for too long, Tare straddles the line between brilliant and out of control.

This improvisatory sense of discovery was likely purposeful, as it complements the album’s themes; the elements of each song emerge as scraps of memory—a sound here, an image there, an offhand phrase—that can never quite coalesce. But while Eucalyptus is undoubtedly intriguing, it’s only occasionally enjoyable as music.

There are commendable moments on the second solo album from Animal Collective’s principle songwriter, but they are so infrequent as to resemble needles within a dense haystack of meandering claptrap, rendering the search for them at first rather demoralising and then almost mythical.

The free rein afforded by this latest solo effort renders most of these 15 tracks unrecognisable as songs, with Tare’s heavily reverbed murmuring of cryptic lyrics ... awash in meandering miasmas of woozy glissandi, thrumming rhythm guitar, wispy synth tones, detuned slide guitar, jews harp and backdrop collages of found-sounds, rippling waves, talking and, for all I know, the kitchen sink.

The Sydney Morning Herald

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KingIsCole10

I love when Avey really leans into experimenting with psychedelia but I think this album feels a little too spacey overall making it a little boring at parts. Lyrically it’s very emotive and his emotion is there though I didn’t always it’s was being communicated through the music as well as it could of been. My favourite tracks are Melody Unfair, Ms. Secret and In Pieces.

1mo

Doofy

Always my favourite member of AnCo, with this trippy and adorably rambling effort he’s only gone and released the best Collective affiliated music since...ooh, at least since ‘Fall Be Kind’.