So you want to start an art rock band huh? Some artists like Sigur Ros have it easy, where they plaster dreamy sounds over a foreign language, making you second guess the motives. Other artists like Brian Eno prefer to paint a more abstract picture. However, there is another band out there amongst the Mars Voltas, challenging for the title of most innovative rock act – Animal Collective. The New York “collective” builds from the psychedelic mischief of their prior release Sung Tongs, on their latest Feels, a playground mural of sound that is almost childish, yet entertainingly instrumental in a mix of both folk and electronic.
Songs with the titles of “Daffy Duck,” “The Purple Book” and “Bees,” may sound immature from the outside, but build to unpredictable pieces in the end. There are no signs on Feels of familiar verse/chorus/verse structure, instead the compositions form a splattering of acoustic guitars, effects, piano trickles and odd-ball lyrics. Take the lead single “Grass” where you get random hoots and hollers, over a country stomp on acid, and you have the album
