This is the kind of focus point that experimental music has needed for a long time. It’s a collection of songs so varied, unique and sonically devastating that it will stand as a beacon and inspiration to bands and listeners for many years to come. Any attempt to box Animal Collective into a corner is a tricky job, people talk of the Beach Boys, not just in terms of the incredibly creative use of vocal harmonies, but also in terms of Brian Wilson’s compositional genius. But this is no self-serious exercise, the Animal Collective may be subversive song smiths but they have never lost their sense of fun, albeit an abstract and off-kilter approach. Merriweather Post Pavilion is bound to wind up on a great many end of 2009 best of lists and it will surely seep slightly into the mainstream as it travels the year. But there’s something defiantly alternative about it, it will never quite reach all the ears that Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver found this year. It would be an interesting year if it did...
