Review: Animal Collective - People EP

In similar fashion to Bright Eyes, people either love or hate Animal Collective, with good reason. The band's unique amalgamation of post, psych and completely leftfield-rock has made them a household name on most indie record shop clerks' top 10 lists, while simultaneously generating faces of disgust on all non-fans of the group.

The People EP comes roughly a year after the success of their latest full-length, Feels. While some online communities (ahem, ILM and At Ease) have dismissed this EP as leftovers, the short-player's 4 tracks actually hold a relatively decent flame to Animal Collective's earlier work. Continuing in the jubilant/circus Animal Collective fashion, 'Tikwid' and the title track are easily the EP's strongest tunes. The former, sounds like Feels highlight 'Grass', if it were a little more ballad-y. The latter sounds like 'Did You See The Words?', err, minus actual words other than 'yeah yeah yeah'. The third track of the EP, 'My Favorite Colors', is two minutes of CocoRosie-esque randomness while the last track on the album is a live version of the title track.

Twenty minutes of brilliance, if you ask me. The band's next full-length is scheduled to be released in the fall.

MP3: Animal Collective - Tikwid