This release from Animal Collective features the pure and sweet vocals of
Vashti Bunyan who released the a classic neo-folk LP Just Another Diamond
Day in the 1970's - This is the first material she has released since then, and it's out there. Fragments of songs develop and dissolve. It's like the
Wicker Man soundtrack remixed round a campfire byKid606.
The EP's sound is that of spooky folk. Unusual instrumentation pitched
against Bunyan's crystalline vocal lines. The lead track It's You is a rush of
cascading harp strums and loose piano notes. Bunyan's almost wordless vocals
recall Portishead's Beth Gibbons on her Out Of Season LP. Prospect
Hummer is built around an insistent acoustic guitar riff, single snare beat and
a stumbling lush vocal only chorus. Baleen Sample locates the missing ground
between Four Tet and the Incredible String Band.
A heavily treated sample glides through the heady haze of warped acoustics like pollen on
a summer breeze. A ticking metronome upfront in the mix provides the rhythm
track for the final track Learning How To Dive. The clicks mesh well with the
light vocal flourishes. The song twists and turns itself, notes disappearing,
chords fracturing, melodies closing in on themselves. It's a kind of folky auto
funk with missing drum beats.
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