Animal Collective, ‘Today’s Supernatural’ – Song Review

Animal Collective release their ninth album -- and first standard full-length since 2009's uber-popular 'Merriweather Post Pavilion' -- later this summer when 'Centipede Hz' hits shelves on Sept. 4. Between now and then, the freak-folk four-piece is taking to the onternet with a weekly radio show on Sunday nights called Animal Collective Radio, and last night they premiered the first 'Centipede Hz' single on the show.

The wound-up vocals "Come on let-let-let-let-let-let-let go" kick off the tune, titled  'Today's Supernatural,' a schizophrenic barn burner that's blends together synth melodies, a variety of upbeat percussive samples and extremely out-there vocal effects, with additional layers of  trippy found sounds and splatters of other sonic weirdness. It falls somewhere between a pop song and a psychedelic sound collage -- although it probably can pass for both.

It's all over in four minutes, and at the end of your first listen you may be tempted to immediately hit repeat and try to wrap your head around what just happened so you can make sense of it all. That, or you may just be glad you made it out the other end and hope to never encounter the tune ever again.

Animal Collective’s Josh “Deakin” Dibb promised fans a little bit of the unexpected on 'Centipede Hz,'  and with 'Today's Supernatural' they certainly get it. “There was an instant melodic gratification to ‘Merriweather,’ he tells Stool Pigeon, “and I think we intentionally made a record this time that is a lot more … um … We took a left turn at weird town."

Whether that left turn was a wrong turn or not, we probably won't know until we hear the rest of 'Centipede.' Until then, we're not even sure if they're looking at the right map.

Listen to Animal Collective, 'Today's Supernatural'