Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

This is actually my first Animal Collective album, The legendary experimental pop band. The only song I have heard from the album in the past is obviously My Girls, Which is probably one of the best indie songs of that area. So I came into this wanting to get high off the music and tripping like a bitch. And I'm pretty sure I just overdosed on reverb.

This album is the most critically acclaimed Animal Collective album, It's considered to be their psychedelic masterpiece. Although I was considering listening to the predecessor Strawberry Jam first, Because I've seen some people say that it's the superior album. But in the end I went with this one mainly because of the existence of My Girls to be honest.

On Merriweather Post Pavilion the band truly took the psychedelic elements of their music to the absolute extreme. I felt like I'm in a wild psychedelic trip throughout the whole album. And it was so trippy to the point that I felt like I'm about to overdose at some moments, Due to the reverb-heavy abstract nature of the project.

In terms of the production, This album is quite insane. The album cover represents the atmosphere of the album perfectly, It's psychedelic, all over the place and unorthodox. Weird disjointed percussions, dreamy synthesizers, swirling effects, heavily deep bass and reverb, tons of reverb, Are all creating the otherworldly soundscapes on the album exceptionally well. The mix is amazingly dense, With so many tiny details and nuances.

Although the album is very psychedelic and experimental, It's decently catchy and even instantaneous at times. There are plenty of infectious and memorable hooks throughout the tracklist, magnificent vocal harmonies and beautifully addictive melodies. Tracks such as My Girls are Bluish are quite immediate, despite their experimental elements.

The vocal performances by Noah Lennox and David Portner are immaculate. Even though most of the time the vocals are drowned out in reverb, Like the rest of the damn mix, The two delivered addictive and passionate performances. The reverb on their vocals feels appropriate considering the trippy sound palette of the project.

lyrically, The album dives into several themes, Such as love, sexual desires, family life and characteristics of people. Some of the writing can be a bit bizarre at times, But it only adds to the confusingly comfortable and trippy nature of the record. The songwriter Noah Lennox is actually quite the poet. His writing is incredibly versatile, It's weird and cryptic, Yet heartfelt and emotional. He also has a great sense of writing catchy and memorable lines and choruses.

I do have some nitpicks with the overall album. Like I said earlier, The album is soaked in reverb, And at times it was slightly too much in my opinion. After 54 minutes of hearing so much reverb, It can be just a little bit exhausting. The second half of the project is a bit weaker than the first one as well. A couple of songs weren't as memorable, And some of the ideas and production choices have been kind of recycled from time to time.

With that being said, These are more or less my only nitpicks with this album. It has so many innovatively fantastic songs, Among In the Flowers, My Girls, Summertime Clothes, Bluish and Brother Sport. It creates a consistent soundscape for the album, And absolutely perfects it.

Merriweather Post Pavilion is a great album by the legendary indie band. It's insanely colorful, addictive, strange and even impressively emotional at times.

Favorite: In the Flowers, My Girls, Summertime Clothes, Bluish, Taste, No More Runnin, Brother Sport
Least favorite: Lion in a Coma