ALBUM REVIEW: “Campfire Songs” Animal Collective

Animal Collective
Campfire Songs
[Paw Tracks]

If you’ve ever been to camp or are a Cat Power fan, you probably have fond memories of guitar strings and hymns being sung to the background ambiance of slow-moving water. The image is serene, calming and intense. Animal Collective’s Campfire Songs bring those memories to the forefront. In the eleven-plus minute song track “De Soto De Son” it takes several minutes to introduce the lyrics. Instead, the same haunting guitar work repeats itself. One of the shortest tracks on the album “Two Corvettes” features the same set up but with breathy and inconceivable words. The brightest track on the album is “Doggy,” an upbeat — in terms of this album — track reminiscent of Bright Eyes. Not a Bright Eyes fan? Excuse the reference and think of an eager Elliot Smith. “Doggy” is still haunting, but in a different way. None of the moving water, but moving lyrics that pull the song forward.

If you’re still trying to figure out if you want to buy the album, then it probably isn’t the right one for you. But if you already are an Animal Collective fan, this would probably fit nicely next to Feels and Merriweather Post Pavilion. Just don’t get too relaxed!