For valiant Animal Collective fans, the arrival of a new album by the experimental Baltimore band brings more trepidation than excitement. Will it, like Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009) and Painting With (2016), be a dreamy cartwheel through their Beach Boys on blue Smarties sound – all textured vocal harmonies and weird refrains (“I just want four walls and adobe slats for my girls” and, just as poignant, “Flori, Flori, Flori, Flori, Florida/Florida-da/Florida-da”)? Or will we be subjected to another Tangerine Reef (2018), a tedious audio-visual album seemingly inspired by tinny loudhailers and the screech of dial-up internet? With Time Skiffs, Animal Collective – recording again with founding member Noah Lennox (also known as Panda Bear) – have resurrected the surf-noir bubbles of pop with which they broke into the mainstream in the late Noughties. From the hypnotic slow-burn of “Prester John” to “Cherokee”, an ethereal and reverb-fuelled ode to road-tripping (“On a tour I saw focaccia treated like it’s jade”), the band is back to just the right level of wacky.
Anoosh Chakelian
With its raspy, synth-heavy soundscape and anthemic melodies, Bastille’s fourth album, Give Me The Future + Dreams Of The Past, explores our complicated relationship with technology. Here, society’s conflicting desires – how do we embrace new frontiers, while preserving the sanctity of now? – are laid bare. Want blissful ignorance? Snatch a VR headset, grab a loved one and relive nostalgic pop-culture in the zany track “Thelma + Louise”. Or, if you’d prefer to bask – or spiral – in today’s crises, then and hear frontman Dan Smith list the anxieties of modern life in “Plug In”. Throughout, Smith’s commentary emphasises our need for human connection above all, exemplified by the acoustic, standout track “Hope For The Future”.
Harry Clarke-Ezzidio
Content from our partners
