Whenever a press release arrives with a record that talks about the artist having a little fun (Or words to that effect) during the creative process, it’s hard to know what to expect. You can double the list of possible outcomes given that this time we’re talking about a second Animal Collective in more or less a year, 2022’s Time Skiffs being their first as a complete line up since Centipede Hz., released a decade before.
Both Isn’t It Now and it’s direct predecessor share the same roots, with the now geographically far flung quartet holing up for a session in rural Tennessee during which they wrote everything on both albums. Where the two differ is that the latest was studio recorded with co-producer Russell Elevado, a process which allowed plenty of room for spontaneity and hence the PR angle about setting expectations against the end results.
At over an hour it’s the longest AC album ever released and a – put diplomatically – thought provoking hybrid of styles and experimental directions. When keeping things direct the band home in on their version of garage psychedelia, most likeably on All The Clubs Are Broken. When the jamming instinct takes over lines predictably become far less orthodox, cosmic wig outs like Magicians From Baltimore on nobody’s path but it’s own, but that’s dwarfed by the demi-symphonic 22 minutes of Defeat. Someone’s having fun here, but the jury’s out on whether it’s always the listener.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 