Broken Hallelujah

Animal Collective
Following 2004’s widely acclaimed ‘Sung Tongs’ album and more than a year of snowballing momentum, Animal Collective return with an eagerly-anticipated new album – a truly stunning, inviting, often heart-warming experience. ‘Feels’ is the band’s seventh album to date and, as has come to be expected, sees them again kicking off from their previous release to explore another different direction. Where ‘Sung Tongs’ was largely acoustic-based and the product of just two members of the Collective (Avey Tare and Panda), ‘Feels’ is in contrast a full group effort (also including Geologist and Deakin). Moving further away from the suggestion of folkish affinities (they always sat in their own space, came at things from a different angle), it is electrified, rhythmically more urgent, and overall a considerably denser work. Those sweet melodies and big catchy hooks remain intact, and the songwriting is once again bold, brave and adventurous, as ever indelibly stamped with their own unique personality.
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Vashti Bunyan
If it is possible to pour the silent musings of a unique mind that has come to freedom with itself and the world into songs, then Vashti Bunyan has managed to do so. And has kept a tenderness and childlike love for all the people and animals and things around her alive. These eleven songs will strike the listener with their empathy and gentle freedom. Even though it is mainly Bunyan’s adorable singing accompanied by some piano or guitar, the impression is immediate and lasting. Time is not being turned back here, it is simply made to stand still and listen. Both cds available Oct 17 and I'm really anxious to hear all the cuts.
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