Over their past few albums, the celebrated and influential psychedelic experimentalists of Animal Collective have had a fluctuating roster, putting an emphasis on that titular “collective”: The core outfit features four members, though they’ve largely worked as a trio since 2009’s breakout Strawberry Jam. Their last album Centipede HZ came in 2012 and was a return to the form of a foursome, but as of today we know their organic shape has shrunken once more, back to the trio of Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox, Dave “Avey Tare” Portner, and Brian “Geologist” Weitz for the forthcoming album titled Painting With, due February 19th on Domino Records.
The album features contributions from avant garde godbody and Velvet Underground pioneer John Cale along with bass saxophone virtuoso and frequent Bon Iver/Arcade Fire collaborator Colin Stetson. And as befitting the artistically-inclined album title, Painting With will feature three different album covers, each a variation on a theme: The face of an Animal Collectiv member, surrealistically painted by Gang Gang Dance keyboardist Brian DeGraw.
On that surrealistic tip, the first single references the Dadaistic art movement, or at least I think it does, with its title: “FloriDada,” a dollop of the ricocheting child-like weird-pop that Animal Collective dip in with frequent ease. Take a listen: