tankt

Shifting gears from last week’s five-day homage to Squarepusher, today’s song is yet another epic Animal Collective track, “Safer.” Once again, I owe my brother Kevin a thank you for this one as well.

I wish I had the bandwidth to keep up with everything new and dive deeper into everything old by Animal Collective. As it is, I feel like I have barely scratched the surface, but what I know I truly love.

Ever since I saw them in concert just over a year ago (again, my pics and video), I have been searching for a small reminder of that same frenetic energy and uninhibited emotion I found in their live show. You can then imagine my delight when Kevin sent me “Safer,” which initially seems to be an afterthought B-side to their Peacebone single, but does in fact stand quite well on its own.

I have just begun to unpack this song, and even after 20+ listens in the last four days, I still can’t get enough. I love Geologist’s little doodads in the background, Avey’s coarse enunciations, and Panda’s emphatic drumming. Add in the most delicate piano line, a ridiculous amount of reverb, and multiple layers of vocals (screaming too) to a meandering song that never seems to end and what you get is pure magic:

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This is why I love Animal Collective. With the exception of Radiohead, who truthfully exists on an entirely different plane, I don’t know of another band so consistently pushing the envelope. They just might be the new Beatles.