Bridge To Quiet - Animal Collective: Review
is a Baltimore based indie band consisting of on and off members Panda Bear, Avey Tare, Deakin and Geologist. After more than 20 years of releasing music the band has developed a major following of incredibly devoted fans and despite releasing some live collections and solo projects Bridge To Quiet is the groups first new studio material since 2018's Tangerine Reef.
Review By Lavender:
I've loved Animal Collective group and solo albums old as well as new for as long as I can remember. From the insane folkisms and relentless creativity of their early work like Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished to the bands critically acclaimed masterpiece Merriweather Post Pavilion, the group is never short on creativity. While the 2010's weren't the best decade yet for the bands material plenty of great solo records emerged, particularly Panda Bear's trio of good records and Deakin's lone solo record Sleep Cycle. After reading on the bands Instagram that these tracks were reworkings of already existing material I was a little bit skeptical after Avey's EP last year but honestly I think Bridge To Quiet is a decent EP with two major highlights.
The first highlight is the opener Rain In Cups a unique psychedelic folk cut with some dense and dark percussion that I really love. This gets paired with gentle vocals and a hook that is almost harmonic which fits well in the song songs conventional structure. The combination of it all is interesting and a great start to the project. The other song I loved was the closing track Bridge To Quiet the longest of the bunch. The song starts off with some heavily static laced vocals that are completely indistinguishable yet seem to some how get more and more distorted as the intro carries on. Once the song itself kicks off there is a wall of keys flying in every direction that somehow results in a still very natural sensation. Some of the planky keys and distant blaring neon synths remind me of something M83 would do, yet the warbled vocals slide in and out of the mix as they please. The song may go on a touch longer than it stays interesting but I really enjoy the sounds all throughout this thing and it is definitely a song only Animal Collective could have made.
Piggy Knows is a pretty interesting song that starts off with a long blurry psych haze that features pretty heavy synth work. The vocals come in to settle the song down a bit and introduce the aim of the track which seems to be to create something more immediately catchy. The core refrain is pretty interesting at first but as it goes on and on in an incredibly repetitive manner to fill the song out I get less and less fond of it. Sux-Bier Passage opens up with a droney sounding passage that seems sample based pairing nature sounds with creaky doors. This transitions into a much more direct pseudo ambient piece with some heavy synths right in the front of the mix. There are vocals on the track but they are so warbled that they might as well be just another instrument. There are parts of this track I think are pretty great but with the snails place it moves at I'm not sure I would be that excited to visit it again.
Bridge To Quiet isn't going to stop anybody in their tracks but it is keeping Animal Collective fans well fed on a steady diet of nature sounds and psychedelic production. The bassline of creativity assures that there is basically nothing else out there that sounds quite like Animal Collective which makes most anything the band releases worth diving into for that reason alone, but Bridge To Quiet has treats even deeper into its tracklist. 6/10
Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:
I really enjoy this cover. The art is very abstract at first look but when you start to focus in on the details the landscape comes into view. I really enjoy the color blocking this had and the overwhelming feeling it displays. Like there's too much that is fit into this composition. If the colors were a bit brighter I think it would've helped show off the hard work that was put into it but overall I think this is an impactful cover. 7/10
For more indie check out my review of Dirty Projectors Flight Tower EP here
