Weekly Hornet

Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Entertainment

The electricity running through Animal Collective's instruments could be felt in the air before they took the stage last Tuesday at the Henry Fonda Theater.

Just a week before, they had released their seventh studio album, "Strawberry Jam" to much critical acclaim. Although most die-hard fans had either heard those songs performed live during their previous tour or listened to the bootlegs of those shows, the question of the evening was, how would the new album sound live?

As the first notes of "The Dancer" soared over, around and through the audience, they warmly greeted the newer-than-new song. In fact, this is why seeing Animal Collective is such a treat. Instead of focusing on past material, the band's set list seems to be a glimpse of the future.

Following "Dancer" was "Peacebone," the opening track on "Strawberry Jam." The moment the audience heard the familiar "thump thump thump" there was a wave of cheers and excitement, and the dancing started. Fans jumped up and down in place, jerked various limbs in time, or simply swayed to the computerized beats. Although the song was similar to the studio recording, it seemed to feel new with various musical embellishments and improvisations.

These "Dancer" and "Peacebone" were a near-perfect blueprint for the rest of the evening. Almost half of the set list consisted of entirely of new material, while the other half of their performance focused on "Strawberry Jam." The only sign of anything older than right now were the tracks, "Leaf House" and "Who Could Win A Rabbit" from the 2004 album "Sung Tongs."

The new material offered several standout tracks like "Walk Around With You," and
"Brother Sport," but a personal favorite was "Material Things." With a hypnotic melody, just-loud-enough drums, and harmonized vocals from lead singer Avey Tare (David Portner) and multi-instrumentalist Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), the song manages to represent everything Animal Collective is.

The "Strawberry Jam" tracks proved to be even more impressive. Songs that just found their way onto a C.D. seemed, at times, almost completely different. For example, "Unsolved Mysteries" is a relatively simple sounding song on the album, but when performed live, it is transformed into something else much more complex.

A similar result was achieved with "#1." The studio recording is rather concise - short intro, lyrics and a similarly short finish. Live, however, the band decided to stretch out the beginning and ending and layer more challenging audio effects on top of the existing ones. This song, already a favorite, became the night's standout performance.

So did Animal Collective's new album, "Strawberry Jam" hold up live? Absolutely. At times, it seemed that the C.D. for sale at the merchandise table had little or nothing to do with the music coming out of the speakers.

The new songs also sounded great, with only the slightest skip or bump to be found within. There is no doubt that the more these songs are played on the stage, the more they will continue to evolve.

Animal Collective is still one of the most exciting live bands today. Their onstage spontaneity combined with their wide-reaching musical talent made it impossible to leave the venue and think "I've heard that before."

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