GregRadiohead's Full Review: Prospect Hummer [EP] [Digipak] by Animal Collectiv...
The full story of Vashti Bunyan makes for a fascinating history lesson. Her influence on modern artists like Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom is undeniable--especially since they both worked on her "comeback" album released in 2005--but less obvious, at least in retrospect, is her influence on the Animal Collective. Their collaborative EP, Prospect Hummer, helps make this association a bit more concrete even if the majority of their releases sound nothing like her delicate, whimsical folk.
During '04 and the early part of '05, if anyone had heard anything by the Animal Collective, it was probably their acoustic side as captured on the breakthrough Sung Tongs release, as well as Panda Bear's solo Young Prayer album. True, 2003's Campfire Songs was acoustic and folk influenced, but it was more of a long form performance piece than a song based album. At any rate, at the time, it made sense that they would record an EP with Bunyan even if their releases during the past three years have been in sharp contrast to this sound.
Though this is an EP, and therefore one shouldn't expect much to hang one's hat on, there isn't a lot here to talk about. Prospect Hummer is at least all new songs, but there are only 4 of them, and the entire package clocks in at just over 15 minutes. The first two songs were, reportedly, Sung Tongs leftovers that they re-wrote to accommodate Bunyan. Their two sounds match extremely well indeed, Bunyan's voice giving the (very obviously) Animal Collective songs an ethereal and uncanny quality. To these ears, 'It's You' could be mistaken for a Sigur Ros collaboration because Bunyan sticks to the upper register and doesn't sing/pronounce the lyrics so much as they emanate from her mouth like ripples on a pond. The title track could easily have slipped into the first half of Sung Tongs without batting an eye; the vocal work from the Animal lads is very, well, animalistic (a rhythmic vocal I can only describe as two people trying to sound like bears singing "cho-wa-wa-woah-woah-woah" over and over). 'I Remember Learning How To Drive' makes better use of Bunyan, with its rickety percussion and smooth guitar chords. Lastly, 'Baleen Sample' is the odd man out, an instrumental that doesn't really fit here but would also be too electronic and intense for Sung Tongs. Truth be told, it feels like a leftover from the Here Comes The Indian sessions, perhaps an early attempt at the atmosphere and tension of the epic 'Two Sails on a Sound.'
I must confess that I have never listened to any of Bunyan's work, though my guess would be Animal Collective fans will find this a more valuable release because it sounds more like an Animal Collective release that Bunyan guests on rather than a true collaboration. This also marks the last time that the Collective have embraced such a stripped down, acoustic/folk context. Starting with Feels released later the same year (that would be 2005, for those not keeping score at home), continuing with the 2006 EP People, this year's Strawberry Jam and all the solo/collaborative releases in between, the band as a whole and separately pursued a more electronic, layered sound that returned to their early sound but with more emphasis on melody and songwriting gained from their Sung Tongs era. The exception being Avey Tare's Pullhair Rubeye, recorded with his wife, which is ostensibly an acoustic/folk record that they reversed so it sounds like an electronic album. But that's a whole 'nother story, and a whole 'nother review that I've already written.
It's hard to give an appropriate score for an EP because they never feel like major works to me. It's kind of like the same situation you run into with handheld games versus console/PC games: could a handheld ever be "game of the year"?? That is to say, could an EP ever be "album of the year"?? I suppose this is a digression, but it warrants consideration. The fact that Prospect Hummer costs $9 at most retailers, though, is pretty important and frankly pretty crappy, too. I like it a lot, but I wouldn't pay more than $5 for it. At 4 songs and barely over 15 minutes of music, your best bet is to download it off iTunes where the full set can be had for $3.98, which is more than a fair price even if you're a completionist who has to have the physical copy.
So, in the end, Prospect Hummer is a perfectly fine EP assuming you spend the appropriate amount of money on it. It is in no way essential listening, but if you truly want a full picture of the Animal Collective, it is required listening.
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