[rating=7.00]
It’s been five years now since the members of Animal Eyes trickled their way down to Portland from Alaska. According to bassist Colin McArthur it was less about being able to go on tour easier than it was about the music scene in Portland. The evolution in their sound may have been partly influenced by this move. Whereas their first LP Found in the Forest carries more of an Eastern European folk sound with prog-rock time signatures, their follow up EP Ursus becomes more upbeat rock and finds Sam Tenhoff playing the accordion more like a synth. With the release of their sophomore LP Where We Go the band has taken a page out of the experimental pop book and created an album that is both light-hearted and danceable but still holds some seriousness to it.
Animal Eyes make excellent use of multi-part harmonies in their songs and the opening track “Feeding Snakes” shows their skills off right away. Synth and bass notes alternate between the right and left speakers before an accordion fades in and out with a constant drum beat keeping rhythm while the vocal harmonies become an instrument all their own. “Born in a Blaze” uses effects to create a swelling, synthy sound over a picked acoustic while harmonies reminiscent of Fleet Foxes sing strikingly over all of it to create a standout track on the album. Similarly, the first single on the album, “Mushroom Hunter”, seamlessly intertwines electric guitar licks and vocal harmonies so well that it becomes difficult to differentiate where the vocals end and the guitar begins.
The album was reportedly written during trying times for the band, with relationships as a well as a good friend dying. The weight of this can be felt in some of the more somber tracks on the album like “Nome-Heave”, which is largely piano, accordion and strings with vocals crooning “How you take my spare time and throw it way/ I don’t know/ how you take my spare time and throw it way/ I don’t care.” The title track of the album finds itself in between these two tempos with a shuffling drum beat beneath synths and effect-laden guitars.
The talent that Animal Eyes portrays on this album is impressive. The way that they make multi-part harmonies sound both effortless to create, not to mention perform, is not something that is easy and should not be understated. Equally remarkable is the songwriting. Each song is layered with so many different sounds that reveal themselves over multiple listens. If Animal Eyes can pull off what is contained on this album in a live setting when they go on tour this summer, they will surely prove that they are a musical force to be reckoned with.
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