Fall Be Kind EP cover

Animal Collective 
Fall Be Kind EP
Available Digitally Now & CD/Vinyl Dec. 14th 2009 

Animal Collective - "Graze" (Download)

It’s almost hard to fathom that less than a year ago Animal Collective came out with Merriweather Post Pavilion, which is still standing strong on many top five albums of the year lists, and now AC members Geologist, Panda Bear, Avey Tare and Deakin have come out with their Fall Be Kind EP, which is so good that it acts like an after dinner rosé to Merriweather Post Pavilion’s superb main course.

While there is no doubt from the first 10 seconds that this is clearly a Animal Collective album with their hypnotizing dreamy layers and echoing voice, yet the group shows change and evolution with the Fall Be Kind EP. The songs don’t stay ambient as long as they did for the last album. The EP starts out drifting in and out of high pitched layered samples until you forget that you’re listening to anything at all and then lead singer Avey Tare starts off with his soft but emotional sing-talking and brings you back into the song and out of your day dream.

I like that not all the singing sounds like a chorus, rather this EP shows off more of Tare’s lyricism that I felt was hidden in Marriweather. Tare shows that he isn’t all computer auto tuning—but there’s still a good amount of effects on his voice—and still has the lungs that made him a great musician in the first place.

Honestly, I liked Merriweather Post Pavilion, but I felt some of the songs were hit or miss—I should also mention I’m not all that into ambient. However, Fall Be Kind made me rethink my gripe with the genre I used to think was too boring. Like Animal Collective’s use of the flute on the opening song of the EP “Graze.” The soft sounds might fool you, but there is so much going on in songs like “I Think I Can” with the voices and hard hitting piano and hand claps, that I would notice my hart rate hastening without feeling bombarded by bass and played out glitches.

Animal Collective seeks to bring back composition to electronic music, in a genre where the musical rise and falls have been forgotten and replaced by songs that sound good but feel static and played out after a minute. Fall Be Kind is an excellent counter point to anyone who says that electric music all sounds the same—can I even call this electronic? And I highly advise anyone who’s liked any of Animal Collective’s work to pick up this sleeper EP.