Animal Collective - Feels

Feels is undoubtedly a very varied and beautifully flowing album. Running the gamut of emotions, it is by turns melancholic, hypnotic, caustic, woozy, overjoyed, introspective, and just plain achingly, heart-breakingly beautiful. 3 of the opening 4 tracks blast out an infectious sense of urgency and growing confidence driven by pounding drums and yelping and hollering vocals; Bees and Daffy Duck are slow-glowing ambient sprawls; Banshee Beat is as stunning as any track we’ve heard this year both physically and emotionally it’s deeply affecting - a heart-melting, slow-spreading tingle of a track that positively demands a foot-shuffling reaction; Loch Raven builds around a sparkling jewel of an Aphex-y electronic melody, glistening piano notes, padding drums and vocal interplay; whilst Turn Into Something neatly rounds off the album by spanning an arch from high energy exuberance to a slow, languorous immersion.A dazzling ride from start to finish, Feels pushes Animal Collective’s challe