Asif Khan Inc.

Merriweather Post Pavilion – Animal Collective

Some of us just refuse to grow up, and prefer remaining confined within our childhood fantasies – visions of a magical land filled with mushroom aided trips down rabbit holes, which make for exceptional mental transportation when applied to the creation of music. Baltimore dudes Animal Collective (the names of whose members make them sound like inmates of a zoological garden) after having made some such stuff and garnering worldwide critical acclaim are back with a studio album named after an arena sized performance venue they harbor close sentiments with. Merriweather Post Pavilion is not your average dose of avant garde pop, dance, rock or whatever genre you might want to slot this affair into. As they begin with In The Flowers, images of wide expanses of poppy fields emerge, as you gently waft into an illusory half asleep state while you mind ascends towards the REM stage, till you reach the scorching Summertime Clothes, get convoluted again with Bluish and Guy’s Eyes, but jolted out suddenly with jungle beats on Lion in a Coma, and being bought back gently with the resplendence on Brothersport. Taking a childhood fantasy trip was never this visionary.