Whether with his long-running experimental pop troupe Animal Collective, his solo work, or any of his various side projects, Dave Portner, aka Avey Tare, rarely takes the same route twice. Fourth solo album 7s closely follows Animal Collective's remotely assembled 2022 effort Time Skiffs, and while it's got some things in common with the dense arrangements and surrealistic atmospheres of Time Skiffs, 7s is in a completely different stylistic area code than the watery rural psychedelia of Portner's 2019 solo outing Cows on ...
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Whether with his long-running experimental pop troupe Animal Collective, his solo work, or any of his various side projects, Dave Portner, aka Avey Tare, rarely takes the same route twice. Fourth solo album 7s closely follows Animal Collective's remotely assembled 2022 effort Time Skiffs, and while it's got some things in common with the dense arrangements and surrealistic atmospheres of Time Skiffs, 7s is in a completely different stylistic area code than the watery rural psychedelia of Portner's 2019 solo outing Cows on Hourglass Pond. Recorded with producer Adam McDaniel and sometimes enlisting the rhythmic help of drummer Alex Farrar, 7s is a relatively less abstract picture of the psychedelic pop Portner has made his own over the years. Songs like "Invisible Darlings" and "The Musical" have all the hallmarks of his signature sound. The melodies are wandering yet catchy, and dressed in hard-to-identify sounds that could be highly treated guitars, synths, samples of heavenly harps, or something else completely. Wildly experimental elements always come into the mix, sometimes out-of-nowhere curve balls like Portner suddenly dousing his vocals in flanger until he sounds like a cartoon duck and other times more slowly, as with the layers of distorted tones that gradually stack on top of the groove that carries "The Musical." The album centers around "Hey Bog," a lengthy piece that slowly blooms out of an ambient introduction into a weird, rubbery kind of meditative funk. The bass synth lines feel inspired by early acid techno, the drums are mostly minimal time-keeping hi-hat clicks, and heavy doses of blissful vocal harmonies and washed-out instrumental textures float almost disconnectedly on top of the rhythmic elements. The song, much like the album on the whole, feels simultaneously airy and anxious. The mix of sounds pulls from throughout Portner's massive sonic toolbox, going into new territory with the aforementioned acid-esque bass and the fuzzy lead sounds of "Neurons," while returning to more familiar misty atmospheres and blurry acoustic guitars on the softly spiraling "Sweeper's Grin." 7s is a great distillation of Portner's various and always curious styles, recalling some of the best moments from different points in Animal Collective's ever-shifting discography as well as finding new inspirations in his solo journey. It's a great reminder of how weird and one-of-a-kind Avey Tare has always been, and how he's still refreshing his strangeness with every new record. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi
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Add this copy of 7s to cart. $9.03, like new condition, Sold by Streetlight_Records rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Cruz, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2023 by Domino Record Co.
Add this copy of 7s to cart. $17.96, new condition, Sold by Importcds rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Sunrise, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2023 by Domino.
Add this copy of 7s to cart. $20.30, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2023 by Domino Record Co.
