Demob Happy

Animal feelings

7/10

This should have been the Collective’s crowning moment. The return of the full ‘line-up’ so soon after last year’s Avey Tare and Panda Bear-orchestrated masterpiece ‘Sung Tongs’ heralded great things, and many early reviews agreed. I’m not so convinced. There are moments on this record where they genuinely seem to push the boundaries of what can be achieved on record while retaining some relationship with popular music. Opener ‘Did You See the Words’ bursts on to the stereo in full technicolour - psychedelic pop in the same ballpark as early Mercury Rev and late Beach Boys but saturated in all manner of sonic ephemera. The production is amorphous, brain-teasing stuff, with the single ‘Grass’ following in equally deranged territory: fragments of T-Rex-style glam stomp floating in amongst Flaming Lips-esque vocalisations and primal, punk-rock screaming.

It is quickly apparent that the economy of the largely-accoustic Sung Tongs has been replaced with a more expansive musical palette - but one seemingly born in the studio (I would like to see this played live!). However, by the fourth track Purple Bottle, the overloaded ferocity of the Collective’s trademark joyousness has started to become wearying and irritating, and you start wishing for a ‘less is more’ approach. Then, as if to answer your plea, ‘Bees’ begins a lengthy four-track descent into semi-ambient territory, all murmering, sitars and drones. However, not all of it sustains my attention, and none of it matches the sheer beauty and mind-boggling originality of Sung Tongs’ ‘Good Lovin’ Outside’. It is this failure to balance out the extremes of mood in this album that make it a frustrating release, although there are more ideas packed into the opening two tracks of this album than most bands manage in their lifetimes. If only they could manage it over a whole album and provide a middle ground between the psychedlic pop that begins this record with the meandering indulgence of the latter parts.