Animal Collective: Fall Be Kind EP

Since Animal Collective found its niche with Feels in 2005, the group’s vibrant, psychedelic pop experiments have settled into the proverbial ass-groove in the couch. The band is comfortable staying put in the same sonic terrain, which isn’t bad, but it’s a trend of predictability from a band that once had no limits. “Graze” mashes up Disney-fied surrealism that reaches higher levels of cognition, and “What Would I Want? Sky” wields the first legit Grateful Dead sample like a badge of honor. “On a Highway” would be genius if it were an instrumental track, but lyrics that sound like the band’s live journal, culminating with lines about smoking hash and watching construction workers piss by the side of the road, reiterate that some things are better left unsaid. Still, Fall Be Kind is a magnificent listen, filled with billowing, hypnotic textures, drones and aural pleasantries that surpass their already established greatness. (Domino) 4 out of 5 stars.