Animal Collective Bring Joy to SummerStage on Tuesday Night
Animal Collective â SummerStage â August 30, 2022
Animal Collective appear to have strange powers. Iâm not the first to say theyâre a spiritual and sonic journey, that there is something meditative in the quartetâs signature sound. But on a Tuesday night in Central Park, the band held off a much-discussed torrential downpour until the setâs very last song. Coincidence? Probably. And yet, dancing in the rain to âThe Purple Bottleâ (Feels, 2005), Iâm not not convinced it was their doing.Â
Coming off the February release of Time Skiffs, the bandâs first album since 2016, AnCo delivered a beautiful set that plumbed the bandâs decades of adventurous experimental music, while heavily featuring the new record. âDragon Slayer,â off Time Skiffs, floated gently into form mid-set, Dave Portner/Avey Tareâs vocals blossoming and Noah Lennox/Panda Bearâs drums effortlessly keeping pace. Animal Collective are masters at blending not only form but also feeling. In the great tradition of psychedelia, they have a knack for making your brain feel like itâs become a liquid light show. On âWe Go Back,â also off Time Skiffs, the loop-like keys and lyrics make for a poppy, near-manic chorus that melts and distorts at songâs end: âI stood for a moment and the sun went down / I got sad for the sun âcause I would get lonely.â And âCar Keysâ is a new classic, total jam-inspired AnCo canon.
The band played some excellent deeper cuts, too. âApplesauce,â a wacky song that Portner once said was simply based on eating fruit, from 2012âs Centipede Hz, and âChores,â off my favorite, 2007âs Strawberry Jam, were highlights. But who am I kidding: Nothing can really beat hearing âBluishâ (Merriweather Post Pavillion, 2009) live, a Beach Boysâon-mushrooms love song that sends my heart near-bursting. âIâm getting lost in your curls / Iâm drawing pictures on your skin / So soft it twirls.âAs the whole of the SummerStage crowd lost its collective mind at showâs end to âThe Purple Bottle,â I got emotional. When pleasure and joy can seem increasingly distant these days, itâs a salve to know we have this and each other. Such is the power of Animal Collective, and Iâm grateful. âRachel Brody | @RachelCBrody
Photos courtesy of Mark Ashkinos | www.markashephotography.com