When there is echo on the album almost everything is acoustic reverb. We didn’t put a lot of effects on the voices like in the past… We tried to be really careful about reverb, to not make everything washed out. The band put much of this down to their close collaboration with engineer Sonny Diperri: “He played a big part in how the vocals sounded. They dance with each other.” Portner interrupts: “Both vocals are meant to complete one thought”. Without one singer it doesn’t really work the same way. The interplay between Avey Tare and Panda Bear’s vocals (recorded while sat on high pedestals to lend the singing an “airy” quality) is brought front and centre with an uncharacteristic clarity: “With the vocals, it’s not like a typical call and response or harmony.” says Lennox, “It’s like two voices become one. Everything about Painting With feels crisp and direct as though delivered in super high-definition Technicolor the pitter-pattering handclaps of Lying In The Grass, the delirious arcade-hall rave of Burglars, the galloping bass and piano of the radiant On Delay – even Bea Arthur’s introduction to Golden Gal seems to shimmer. “Everything sounded good in that room” says Weitz. A baby pool was set up to help add to the vibe of the room, but the group soon discovered it sounded amazing when thudded and treated with effects. Making the space feel like home was essential: they lit candles on lily pads and projected a two-hour reel of dinosaur movies – spliced together by Dave’s sister Abby – on a constant loop. Recording took place in the legendary EastWest Studios in Hollywood, home to sessions by The Beach Boys and Marvin Gaye. That shift in perspective contributed to how much space is on the record.” To make things better.” The group made a conscious decision not to tour the songs first in an attempt to keep them fresh, something Weitz found to be “a freeing process. “I feel like lyrically there’s some really tough stuff” says Lennox, “but the intention was for the songs to have the spirit of trying to work things out. Working as a trio, Portner, Lennox and Weitz began trading demos in early 2015, pursuing a goal of what Portner calls “really short pop songs: no B.S, get in, get out material…” The three met up in Ashville during that Spring and began exploring the songs together. This time we wanted to strip it down and simplify it, like techno and punk… And then put the Animal Collective filter on it all.” “I feel like what we were doing with the last record was something a little more complicated. The songs are as experimental and deeply textured as anything that has come before but sound as sharp and snappy as chart hits, finding the band at both their most minimal and most ambitious: “The idea with cavemen was about being more primitive – the way we sounded when we were first playing together in New York” says Portner. Dizzyingly upbeat and gloriously realised, their latest LP bounces and pops with an urgent, ecstatic energy, propelled by polyrhythmic beats and gurgling modular synth, with Lennox and Portner’s vocals gleefully falling in and out of syncopation and off-kilter harmony. I think that was kind of our starting point”. “Caveman circles”, says Lennox, discussing the vision for their eleventh full-length album, Painting With “Caveman circles, the first Ramones record, early Beatles and electronically produced. Their wild path has taken them from cramped concrete basement shows and forest floor singalongs to immersive installations at the Guggenheim and performances to millions on national television. For fifteen years Dave Porter (Tare), Noah Lennox (Bear), Brian “Geologist” Weitz and Josh “Deakin” Dibb have been rewriting the musical map, their line-up and aesthetic shifting with each astonishing release as they continue their pursuit of a new psychedelia. Carried along by washes of squalling feedback, the music was noisy, and it was weird, but it was, at heart, pop music. Please note: box office is cash only.Īt the beginning there were two of them – Avey Tare and Panda Bear – banging drums and tweaking synths in their bedrooms, singing strange and sometimes heartbreaking songs about imaginary friends and childhood pets. No service charge on tickets purchased in person at The Sinclair Box Office Wednesdays-Saturdays 12-7PM. Tickets available at TICKETMASTER.COM, or by phone at 80.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |