Stagnant Liquid Familiarity

If you’ve been on a college campus in the last three years, you have heard of Animal Collective. Ask any artists, intellectual, or occasional stoner and they’ll tell you all about the experimental group. They’ve been a hit on the festival circuit as well as college radio whilst their indie fame grows. Averaging one release a year, 2008’s treat is the EP Water Curses on Domino Records.

The official press release for Water Curses states “All tracks find Animal Collective exploring strange new waters.” Theses “waters” aren’t really strange, but in hindsight more normal. At least for Animal Collective. The four track EP is much more stripped down than their previous releases. The first three tracks are b-sides from their Strawberry Jam sessions, preceding their 2007 release Strawberry Jam, while the last track ‘Seal Eyeing’ was recorded at Rare Book Room Studios earlier this year. The tracks still embody the experimental, noise rock roots of Animal Collective, but somehow the band has become more accessible for those who normally don’t go to shows with people wearing crazy animal masks. The title track ‘Water Curses’ is the perfect track for the summer; the beat bouncing along with the fast-paced, almost spoken word vocals, while the more standard ‘Street Flash,’ a seven minute ode to guitar reverb and creepy laugh tracks, rounds out the EP with a more psychedelic sound. It should be interesting to see what direction Animal Collective goes into next, if Water Curses is any testament to their artistic development. Let’s hope they keep the masks and leave the band drama at the door.

Amy Dittmeier