As much as you may like Animal Collective, or their members’ respective solo projects, there has always seem to be a pretty divided opinion when it comes to how their music translates live. As a unit, Animal Collective are prone to trying out new material and staying true to their own vision, rather than trying to please their fans. Or, maybe, they just hope that the two are one and the same. Panda Bear took a similar strategy when touring for his 2011 offering Tomboy. In fact, much of the touring for Tomboy took place a whole year before the album actually came out. In that sense, the members of Animal Collective seem to reverse the typical order of making music by using live performance as a rehearsal space and concluding a song’s cycle by putting it to tape. That being said, Avey Tare very much followed suit with his Friday night sold out show at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts, in a show that was not for the unadventurous. Luckily, most fans of the AnCo family are willing to watch some risks and willing to be played to rather than played for.
Opening the show was Drawlings, the solo project of visual artist (and Avey Tare’s sister) Abby Portner. A local, Portner had an obvious and vocal following in the crowd, which almost seemed to work to her detriment at times, as her smiling and inside jokes with friends took away from the serious, and even scary, nature of the songs. That being said, Drawlings was a good contrast to the later Avey Tare set, as it relied more on textures and demanded more cerebral investment from the audience to pick up on the underlying songs. But, I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t something there to latch on to, though dressing it up a little with the artwork for which she is known for and a little more energy in the performance would go a long way.
Whatever visual stimulation Drawlings lacked was made up for mightily by Foot Village. Featuring four percussionists and no other instruments besides the impassioned yelling of their members, Foot Village is a bit of a spectacle, something that suited the night perfectly when sandwiched between two knob-turning vocalists. Grace Lee is the obvious beacon of the band, who danced to the between-set songs to try and get the band pumped up. But, when the music kicked in, Lee was a madwoman, with a heart of a hardcore she-wolf. The group stood on their stools, swung lights around, yelled at the audience, and, most importantly, banged on their drum kits like it was their sole purpose for existing. Hell, it might be. But, the most interesting thing about Foot Village is that at no point does the schtick feel like a gimmick or contrived. Balancing anger, fun, technique, and recklessness is a delicate act, and Foot Village made it look pretty easy.
Over the course of nine songs played on Friday night, Avey Tare (David Portner) split his set between four songs from his 2010 offering Down There and five as of yet unreleased songs. As mentioned earlier, this is pretty typical of an Animal Collective member. But, the audience, hanging on every sound while the scent of cannabis lingered heavily in the air, were captivated by every knob turned, every button pushed, and every feverish yelp from the singer. Still, the audience did play favorites to the songs they knew, letting out audible shouts of joy when a familiar song would begin. Of these, “Oliver Twist” and “Laughing Hieroglyphic” were clear fan favorites and highlights, with the latter melting into new tune “Death Raga” seamlessly; something that every song transition did to some extent, but never as well as the close of the show.
While the material that was played from Down There was the most obvious and expected songs, the songs translated live beautifully, making Avey’s glitchy and soulful voice to be a focal point, rather than just another part of the mix as it can be on record. And, if there is one thing to point out about Avey Tare, it is that he is a captivating singer, his face full of emotion and conviction, and with a voice that is so unmistakably his own. Really, there aren’t many people that you could compare Avey Tare to vocally, and in the live setting this becomes even more apparent.
As for the new tunes, opener “Song For Jerome” was easily accessible and obvious for why it was chosen to kick off the set, even containing a hair-raising moment when Avey counts off in Spanish. The song that is being called “Sometimes” is also tremendously well put together, the kind of tune that caused this writer to instantly go home and listen to a shitty YouTube rip of the song from an earlier performance. None of the new songs, save the brief “Death Raga,” seemed to be rough drafts or experiments, but full-fledged songs, causing one to wonder if any of these are the tracks that Animal Collective has been working on in Baltimore. Something inside of me doubts this, and, rather, is looking forward to hearing these as proper recorded versions on Avey Tare’s next solo album.
In the end, Avey Tare concluded his set and left the stage (which had a minimal setup of red and green lights and a skeleton with a Yoda mask), forcing the audience into one of the loudest encore calls I have heard recently. But, Avey Tare returned to the stage just to thank the crowd again and confirm that he didn’t have any more songs prepared to play. And the audience accepted this, happy to experience a risky and completely successful 45-minute set from one of the singers of what is one of the most critically acclaimed bands currently making music. All in all, not a bad night in Eagle Rock.
Song For Jerome
Lucky 1
[Sometimes]
In Photographs
Oliver Twist
Slow Words
3 Umbrellas
Laughing Hieroglyphic
Death Raga
