Animal Collective - London Koko

The anticipation surrounding the release of the ninth studio album from Baltimore uber-geeks Animal Collective has only just been surpassed by that of the inauguration of America's first black President. Just.

Hype aside, you’ll have probably already read several times over that ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ is really rather good (review HERE). In fact, 2009 would already be trumping its predecessor several times over if it produced another record as beautiful. With their gig at London's Koko coinciding with its release, I hopped on down with the hottest ticket in town to jostle with the bespectacled and the beardy and witness the fever it has induced first hand.

From the outset the tension in the venue is palpable. A vibrating throng packs densely around the stage before the opening act arrives, assorted tunes from stolen album snippets humming below the excited murmur.

The wait for ‘Merriweather…’ has been a long journey for many members of the audience. MP3s have been scandalously scavenged from blogs; websites scoured for droplets of information, trickling down from a band trying to keep their art in one piece before it is made public. Tonight is the culmination for Animal Collective’s fans, finally together IRL after many months visiting the same places but never actually meeting.

Having lost a member between albums, the now-trio take to the stage, press a button on a sequencer, and the first treatment of sound unbroken shimmers to a start. The one in the middle, Avey (aka Dave), stoops to croon the opening lines of album-opener 'In The Flowers' in his college-kid lilt, and the anticipation for that thunderous kick-drum reverberates into the rafters.

Geologist (or Brian, you choose) conducts the band’s beats and beds through a set mostly lifted from their new record, whilst the other two deliver the melodies, strummings and textures. For an hour and half the band lays bear their influences, from Afrobeat to Beach Boys, and take the juncture between each track to float off into the occasional mesmerising jam of noise. I'm not sure what other band would be so bold as to slope furious samba rhythms into five minutes’ worth of drones and loops, but tonight Animal Collective are utterly captivating, their melodies punctuating bubbling textures and stuttered rhythms in impossible time signatures.

Each line delivered adopts a slightly romantic edge, and it doesn't take long for the audience to become a smitten frenzy, with the slightest of pauses between tracks being greeted by roaring ovation. By the time they get to the end of their final number and album standout ‘My Girls’, they might as well be announcing that there's a Grey Sedan parked out front and would someone please move it.

They were actually probably just saying thanks, but I'm not sure anyone's bothered.

Words: Jack Rampling