Animal Collective “Isn’t It Now?” Album Review

Isn’t It Now?

Animal Collective

• Genre: Alternative
• Date: 29 Sep, 2023
• Content: Not-explicit
• Track(s): 10
• ℗ 2023 Domino Recording Co Ltd

Although it lasts 64 minutes, “Isn’t It Now?” is commendably clean of filler. Few bands are capable of it, thus Elevado deserves a lot of praise for doing so. Each song is a component of a much larger whole, demonstrating Animal Collective’s unwavering dedication to developing their sound. The Baltimore foursome avoided complacency and delivered a record that is both familiar and new.

Animal Collective proves once more that they are anything but a has-been with the release of “Isn’t It Now?”. They are the troubadours of the constantly shifting, spellbinding world of current music. The live instrumentals are ‘Isn’t It Now?’s backbone, produced by Russell Elevado, who is well-known for his work with D’Angelo and Kamasi Washington.

This is a welcome acknowledgement to the Collective’s recent trajectory and a confident drive by the band to demonstrate their musical prowess.

Album Cover Art

On a multicolored vintage material with print designs is inscribed the title of the album, which also appears like the subject of a letter’s content.

Tracks and Features

The front-loaded first leg of the record best illustrates their current laid-back approach. Zappa-inspired tracks like “Magicians from Baltimore” have odd sonic choices, including the pulsing rings of a zeusaphone, which suggest psychedelic freak-outs are about to start but instead develop into more meticulously orchestrated compositions. In the same way, the energetic “Soul Capurer” finds Lennox and David Portner (also known as Avey Tare) trading off roles as usual.

The album’s standout tune, “Defeat,” eschews the group’s increasingly concise creative instincts. It’s the longest song by Animal Collective to date, clocking in at almost 22 minutes, and the languidly paced track takes its sweet time to get to anything resembling a thesis statement. The song opens with a series of hypnotic, drone-heavy tone clusters that go nowhere, only for a percussion section to casually enter the mix after eight laborious minutes. The song concludes with a pleasant-enough adage about how the crushing weight of loss will ultimately dissipate, recalling the band’s earlier, more texture-building, jam-oriented songs.

In contrast, the stunningly beautiful “Stride Rite” is probably as pensive as Animal Collective has ever been. The song, composed of a slew of cascading piano notes, amounts to an unsettling, otherworldly experience about the numerous heartbreaks that come with maturation, one portrayed with a level of clarity that the rest of the album severely lacks.

Then we get into “Gem & I.” In stark contrast to the melancholy tracks that came before it, this song unfolds as an homage to strength and youthful vigor. Its driving rhythm and hook flirt with pop notions while remaining firmly within the Collective’s ethos. It thus neatly concludes the album’s theme: a celebration of life in all its enigma.

The song “Broken Zodiac” evokes the innocent beauty of Roy Orbison songs and Sunday morning cartoons, and is driven by a distorted organ and Panda’s delicate drumming. Similar to those two, there is a tinge of darkness inside as the words dance around a spirit that seeks to free “angels kept in cages.” “All the Clubs Are Broken” has a groove that might fit on a Wolf Parade album and is possibly the most British-sounding tune the band has written thus far.

Tracklist

NO	TITLE	TIME
1	Soul Capturer	6:08
2	Genie’s Open	7:53
3	Broke Zodiac	2:45
4	Magicians from Baltimore	9:27
5	Defeat	21:58
6	Gem & I	3:39
7	Stride Rite	4:53
8	All the Clubs Are Broken	2:16
9	King’s Walk	5:10
10	Soul Capturer – Single Version	5:44

Album Theme

“Isn’t It Now?,” Animal Collective’s 12th studio album, takes the listener on a journey that feels both old-fashioned and forward-thinking at the same time. It successfully strikes a balance between the band’s nostalgic roots and a modern flair.

Production Credits

Animal Collective & Russell Elevado produced the album.

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