ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

Time Skiffs (Domino)

After an extended time away, Animal Collective return with Time Skiffs, their first new album in six years. With their last two getting a mixed reception, it felt like their best work was behind them, which made me cautious going in – yet these worries soon went away.

Lead single Prester John is a catchy, almost poppy track with a bouncy bassline and soaring vocal harmonies: an immediate standout, and one of the best tracks Animal Collective has put out in years. The rest of Time Skiffs delivers in the same vein, although not always as immediately catchy as the single.

It’s clear that time away did the band some good – Strung With Everything feels like a natural continuation of the sound developed on 2008’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, and Cherokee just about earns its near eight-minute runtime. Time Skiffs is not quite up there with Animal Collective’s best work, but it’s a worthy return to form.  

words MATT LEE