The A.V. Club has a great little piece on the prolific nature of modern indie artists. Animal Collective, for example, have more recorded output than did The Beatles. This piece pretty much sums up the rationale for my blog: in an age saturated with new music, I try to offer a little insight into what is worthy of the hype and what is tripe.
Extended-play singles have become almost the norm for any well-respected indie bands' between-album downtime, tempering fans' and critics' nigh insatiable yearnings. Fall Be Kind might be the perfect expression of that art.
Bookending 2009 in a way that appears, retrospectively, quite ordained, Fall Be Kind cements the Collective's striking relevance and impressive consistency. There's just enough of Merriweather to feel appeased, and yet just enough unexpected moments to remain intrigued. Two around-the-corner surprises highlight the two best tracks: "Grass" drops from outer space into a Kubrick-esque carnival, while "What Would I Want? Sky" rises up from underwater into a Dali-esque masquerade.
The rest of Fall Be Kind basks in the ambience Animal Collective do best, testing your patience for their next much-awaited project.
An outstanding and original cover of an absolutely outstanding and original song. I'm not going to lie, if I were an artist, I wouldn't have the imagination nor courage to cover a song as recent and well-regarded as Animal Collective's "My Girls." But hey, she pulls it off. Leave it to the Swedes.
She also does a respectable take on my favorite Guns N' Roses song, "Sweet Child O' Mine."
