Animal Collective - Painting With, album review: 'a delight'

Not long after solo albums from members Avey Tare and Panda Bear, these prolific purveyors of modern psychedelia are back with a tenth album.

Their previous group effort, Centipede Hz from 2012, was heavy and confusing. This time they promise “No B.S, get in, get out material” and it’s a delight.

The sampled giggle in the middle of opening song FloriDada, with its rubbery rhythms and nonsense lyrics, sets the tone. Electronic sounds burble and shiver, and the layered vocal harmonies, recorded in the same studio where the Beach Boys made Pet Sounds, keep a prettiness on top of whatever craziness is going on beneath.

The flutes and handclaps of Lying in the Grass offer a kind of seasick funk, and though they can still irritate, there’s an energy and directness here that keeps spirits high.

(Domino)