Conference of Birds / Birds In Disguise EP - Avey Tare: Review
is a Maryland based experimental musician who has long been a member of Animal Collective, and has contributed to some of the most groundbreaking music of this century. Despite the fact that that the last two Animal Collective studio records haven't been critical successes Avey has been busy with a number of live performances, installations and even his own studio records.
Review By Lavender:
Keeping up with all the music from the various members of Animal Collective can be exhausting, just this year we've gotten full studio records from both Avey Tare and Panda Bear, a live Animal Collective record to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their record Merriweather Post Pavilion, another bootleg AnCo live album was sold and briefly made its way onto streaming services before being taken down, Panda Bear released a number of remixes from his most recent record as well as finally dropping a live EP onto streaming that was originally distributed as a tour only release last year. And finally we have Avey Tare's Conference of Birds EP which was released last week. After I had already written a review for this EP two extra tracks were tacked onto this under the Birds In Disguise title and ultimately I've decided to just judge them as one complete project the way they're currently presented at the time of posting this.
The EP gets started with Midnight Special which definitely comes from the same sessions as Avey's EP earlier this year as it shares that albums very natural, swaying and disjointed songwriting style. The song has some twinkling keys and a droney bass underneath everything that tends to get a little bit tedious at six minutes long, and I don't think this would have been one of my favorite tracks on Cows On Hourglass Pond either. Red Light Water Show is an interesting track with some distant watery keys that serve as its base. Avey is crooning out vocals in the background almost powering through his vocal effects and trying to overpower the sour angular synth sounds. The track is a strange and interesting collage of sounds that is certain to at least get your attention. Disc One surprised me as its a genuinely catchy track with some acoustic guitar and classic Animal Collective style muddy synths. The track sounds like something from Strawberry Jam which is a big compliment and is one of the better tracks I've heard from Avey Tare this year.
The second half of this EP starts with the only song here that I really can't stand. Enjoy The Change is a 9 minute long drone with strange hovering alien vocals that don't do much for me and make some of what should be the most impactful parts of the song into a pretty weak and listless moment. Thankfully the last track here is another good one with Uncle Donut which features a punchy rattling beat underneath that literally sounds like an Aphex Twin song. Avey's frantic vocals are both unsettling and absolutely riveting with the little chimes and echoes slathered over his vocals. Every part of the song comes together really well and it kind of rules.
Conference of Birds / Birds In Disguise is a little bit inconsistent given that a third of its runtime is spent on a drone that doesn't do much for me, but aside from that Avey is as creative as ever in his genre pushing and while not everything here is a huge hit there is more than enough reason for experimental music fans or long time Animal Collective listeners to tune in. 6/10
And for more Animal Collective check out my review of Panda Bear's Buoys here
