The key to Animal Collective's staggering stature in the experimental genre is not the band as a whole, but rather the sum of its parts. The band itself is a patchwork of creativity, including the likes of Panda Bear (also known as Noah Lennox), Avey Tare (David Portner), Deakin (Josh Dibb) and Geologist (Brian Weitz), all of whom have released individual work under each of their respective aliases, and unite as Animal Collective.
The Animal Collective's prior album, "Feels," astounded critics and fans alike, combining sublime, textured soundscapes with questionably safer composition, at least when compared to its aggressive 2004 release "Sung Tongs," which boasted the band's popular single "Leaf House." After a two-year hiatus, Animal Collective returns with "Strawberry Jam," a winning album that takes the listener on a voyage up and down emotional scales, from euphoric delight to the heartbreaking depths of despondency.
Not all of "Strawberry Jam" is depressing; the first half of the album hosts some of the most giddy, cheerful tracks that Animal Collective has ever assembled. The album's opening track and first single, "Peacebone," echoes ELO circa its "Out of the Blue" era, with its bubbly sound-looping. Animal Collective has developed a sly method of masking its truly dark, gruesome lyrics with musical composition that crackles with high-pitched, sing-song melodies.
The jubilance ensues with "For Reverend Green," which indeed sounds blissful and bouncy, yet the lyrics suggest otherwise: "A running child's bloody with burning knees / A kid that stabs mommy flew in the trees / A camping child's happy with winter's freeze / A lucky child don't know how lucky she is." It is at this point in "Strawberry Jam" where the album takes a startling departure from its sunny disposition and fearlessly takes a dramatic shift in tone. Each track begins as one entity and ends as something completely different and unexpected, yet thanks to Panda Bear's warm, articulate vocal work, this often occurs in a graceful manner.
Easily the best track on "Strawberry Jam," "Cuckoo Cuckoo," starts off with the soft, ghostly chanting of "How I lost my boy" set to the haunting tune of scratchy piano strokes. Shortly afterward, Panda Bear grabs control of the wheel and disrupts the spooky ambiance with adrenaline-charged shouts: "The king and I died / He kept floating past my eyes / And singing his songs / Life was good now death surrounds / 'Cause you can't feel a thing / No heart flutters in late spring / You just drift and pray / For sun-kissed, golden days." Still, though, the eerie piano notes continue beneath Panda Bear's melancholy shouts and screams, as if to suggest that mourning is an eternal process that anger can temporarily ease, yet one can never completely dismiss the pain.
"Cuckoo Cuckoo" is evidence that Panda Bear has had particular trouble coping with the death of his father. His heart-rending 2002 solo album "Young Prayer" served as a musical eulogy of sorts and its basic, acoustic composition presented Panda Bear in a minimalist light under which he strategically kept each of nine tracks from ever becoming tearful or sappy, yet consistently emotionally charged. Through "Young Prayer" and "Cuckoo Cuckoo," Panda Bear has proven his deft ability to employ an adequate amount of sadness and wisdom in his presentation of grief. "Cuckoo Cuckoo" joins the ranks with The Arcade Fire's "Black Mirror" and Panda Bear's own "Bros" as one of the best tracks of the year.
Drastically more mature than "Sung Tongs" and more wholesome than "Feels," "Strawberry Jam" demonstrates where Animal Collective's members have truly honed their capabilities as solo artists and can collectively create something inventive and beautiful. What ultimately separates "Strawberry Jam" from the rest of its contemporaries is that it achieves something few albums can: It serves as a rousing answer to those who wondered where modern music had left to go.
