The following article was originally published on February 5th, 2022, on rateyourmusic.com.
I used to feel like I picked the wrong time to become an Animal Collective fan. I first started listening to Animal Collective a little bit after Painting With had been released. At the time, my high school obsession with The Beatles sent me down a rabbit hole of searching for psychedelic records that could scratch the same itch as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I started with their more pop-oriented albums like Merriweather Post Pavilion, which fulfilled that harmony-rich Beatles hunger I had at the time. I quickly fell in love with the band and dug deeper into their mind-melting, noisy, avant-pop catalog. I was obsessed. I read interviews, watched videos of live performances, browsed reviews, and that’s when I began to notice something: this wasn’t just some niche little band I had found. These guys were indie legends; they performed at the forefront of Coachella and were the cornerstone of indie rock in the 2000s. But by the time I had found them, that fire had gone out. Painting With was considered their worst album, and the music community believed their creative days were already over. While I also wasn’t the biggest fan of Painting With, I knew this wasn’t true, and on one night in 2018, my belief was substantiated.
In March 2018, I traveled to New Orleans to see Animal Collective sans Panda Bear perform new material at Music Box Village. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was one of the first to hear the music of Time Skiffs, though back then, the songs were very different. They were more freeform and embryonic compared to their dub-influenced rhythm-driven studio counterparts. In October 2019, I traveled to San Francisco to see Animal Collective again, this time with Panda Bear. I had never seen the full band perform before. While I went to the show expecting to finally hear some of my favorite songs from their heyday, I was pleasantly surprised by all of their new material, which ended up being my favorite part of
the show. The new songs were lush, jazzy, hypnotic, and the rhythm section seemed to be at the forefront of their music for the first time. I came back to Texas singing their praises, going as far as to write an article titled “Animal Collective is Preparing Another Classic” for my college radio station (which sadly seems to no longer be published).
Now it’s been six years since Painting With, four years since Music Box Village, and two years since the whole band first toured these songs. Time Skiffs has not only been worth that wait but has translated beautifully onto the record. It’s beautiful, hypnotic, and soothing. If Centipede Hz and Painting With were Animal Collective’s awkward high school stage with “someone throwing a burrito on your windshield,” Time Skiffs is Animal Collective all grown up. The melodies are clear, and the rhythm section takes the forefront giving the music space to breathe. This space allows for so many memorable moments. The way Deakin’s keys, Geologist’s samples, Avey Tare’s bass, and Panda Bear’s drums all come together on “Car Keys” is nothing short of legendary. It draws me in to hear every fine detail of the music through its hypnotic rhythms and beautiful vocal harmonies. The part where the bass kicks in halfway through “Prester John” rivals even the similar moment on “In The Flowers.” I can’t count the number of times I have cranked the dial to the right in my car as that part comes on, absolutely hypnotized by the way Panda’s drumming and Avey Tare’s bass playing lock together perfectly. What’s shocking about these moments is that they occurred separately worldwide since the pandemic forced the recording online. It honestly makes me start to believe the band’s claims that they “can tell what each other are thinking.”
The second half of “Strung With Everything” generates the same manic euphoria as the highest highs on Feels. The jazzy “Cherokee” is another standout that drags me into its psychedelic world as the song continues to build. “Royal and Desire” is a beautiful closer and possibly my favorite song on the record. It’s a relaxing lullaby that proves Deakin has always been just as capable of fronting the band as Panda or Avey have. It feels like floating on the ocean looking up at a beautiful starry sky. This track completely reactivates my memories of Music Box Village. I still remember it performed there vividly, back when it was called “DownDownDownDown.” It takes me back to a moment where I was safe, happy, and optimistic for the future of this band and my own life. It seems my optimism was warranted as things are finally looking up.
Going online after Time Skiffs dropped, it seems the future I predicted was real. Time Skiffs has had the best reception of any Animal Collective album since Merriweather Post Pavilion, even earning it the title of “Best New Music” from Pitchfork, an accolade the band racked up consistently back in the 2000s. I’ve seen millennials on Twitter talking about how one of their old favorite bands finally made another excellent record. By all means, it seems like Animal Collective is back. But honestly, who cares? For me, they never left.
Grade: A