MUSIC REVIEW -- ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

Animal Collective

Fall Be Kind

(Domino)

The big news surrounding this five-song EP – released almost a year after the terrific Merriweather Post Pavilion album -- is that it includes the world’s first-ever Grateful Dead sample. It’s part of the nearly seven-minute “What Would I Want? Sky,” a typically mind-melting freak-out that’s also Fall Be Kind’s most dazzling track. Since 2007’s Strawberry Jam, Animal Collective have nudged their experimental noise-making tendencies toward more listener-friendly areas. Merriweather includes a tuneful mix of Beach Boys-style harmonies and modern-day psych, but there are still plenty of minimalist indulgences and drawn-out tribal jams driving it. Fall Be Kind continues down this path, packing songs with skittering beats, digital debris, and dreampop noises that sound like they’re from another galaxy. And like all of the Brooklyn band’s records, this EP is both a frustrating mess and peacefully elegant -- sometimes within the same song. The opening “Graze” starts as a moody ramble to nowhere but turns into a clanging singalong for its second half. “What Would I Want? Sky” works with dichotomy too: After a spacey prelude, the Dead’s Phil Lesh (lifted from “Unbroken Chain”) links with Panda Bear’s airy vocal loops for one of Animal Collective’s best cuts. It’s a glorious moment from a career filled with all kinds of beautiful chaos. --Michael Gallucci