Of Animals, collectives, calexico, iron and wine..
Have you dabbled with the Animal Collective? I’ve now listened to Sung Tongs (Amazon | ITunes) (their last one for research, and because buying stuff on iTunes is so easy) and Feels (Amazon | iTunes) (their latest).
They’re both albums that you know people give good reviews to, because they’re not obvious and they’re sort of interesting, but after listening to it you go: was a single bit of that loveable or memorable? And the answer, I’m afraid is a resounding ‘err not really’. I wanted to like it - I really did, but just a little too much work for my ageing ears. If you see them, could you tell them to stop trying so hard?.
On the other hand - for a bit of gentle loveliness, can I recommend Calexico and Iron&Wine’s In The Reins EP (iTunes| Amazon), as with most I&W output it sails dangerously close to soporific, but just about hangs in there. OK, maybe it does make you doze off just a little bit in places, but it’s very nice. Like a hot bath at the end of a long day.