Animal Collective - Feels

I really don’t know how to even start talking about “Feels.” First off I feel like some representative of indie culture on the internet is going to slap me silly for not listening to it before now, though I suppose I have but I haven’t really absorbed it. It came out in 2005 to universal acclaim, at least in indie circles. Reviewing it now is kind of like reviewing Citizen Kane. If I say I like it I’m probably not saying anything new and if I dislike it I run the risk of being contrarian. Which I’m not against I guess but I do like this album. So.

Part of the issue is that I just completely missed Animal Collective when it was cool to be getting into them. I mean, 2004-5, that was when you were supposed to discover these weird, rococo indie pop superstars with their weird instrumentation and energetic song writing and happy attitudes that covered over a deep, despairing angst. And I did, but there were just so many of them, all at once. There were a few years where I would print off Jeff Jacques’ year end list and every one would be something dozens of people had been clamoring for me to get. So “Feels” just slipped by.

It doesn’t help that they are hard to "get," even for an indie band. “Feels” consists of this series of songs that sound more like happy crowd chants over sounding clocks than songs. The lyrics are hard to discern but they almost don’t matter. The album is almost more digestible as really esoteric mood music. This has a lot to do with the way the album was recorded, including tuning all the instruments to a piano that hadn’t been tuned in like 20 years. Though I usually hold that kind of trickery in contempt, it does create cool effects, and since this album is more atmospheric than structured it definitely works. The album art is really pretty, though its in one of those cardboard cases that are so fashionable now that it hurts. The art itself consists of collages cut from old children’s books, and then sketched over so it looks like there is either blood or vomit dribbling from various mouths. Super trendy.

I have complaints about this album, but they mostly relate to things going on outside the album. Like how everyone is using these cardboard cases now and I am not sure I like it. More concrete is that I am not sure how I feel about how avante guard this is. Clearly those composing this album were making a conscious attempt to deconstruct traditional verse chorus song writing, and subsume the verses in a constant chorus. That’s pretty cool. But is it just a bit too clever? I mean, I just reviewed the Angry Samoans, sometimes comfortable dumb rock is really fun. But then just as I am not going to listen to the Angry Samoans 24/7, I don’t need to listen to “Feels” to the exclusion of traditionally structured music. It just makes a pleasant addition to the more expected entries in my musical life.

As such it will retain a place in my record collection. I do enjoy the album, though I will definitely need to be in an atmospheric mood to enjoy it. If you are into more experimental indie music you should probably check this out, though of course you probably already have it. If you don’t usually listen to more experimental stuff, well, this is very experimental. It probably won’t change your mind.