Go over to this Dutch site to splendor in the lush new Akron/Family album, S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT, an outing that isn't quite their Merriweather Post Pavilion moment, but certainly reaches previously untrod terrain. Where that Animal Collective across-the-board favorite of 2009 was the band's greatest feat of electronic production, Cosmic Birth is Akron/Family's slickest outing and another step away from the cloistered Grizzly Bear Brooklyn moment from which they initially emerged. That said, the step it takes isn't uniformly directed at the same big festival audience that “My Girls” captured.* More like a better slot at Bonnaroo.
As such, their own goof-off wonkery (“A AAA O A WAY”) sidles comfortably alongside loose and twangy tunes like “So It Goes” and block percussion/banjoy ditties primed and ready for the next Volkswagen campaign (“Light Emerges”), penatonic psych jams (“Fuji I (Global Dub)”), and a pleasant deluge of naturalistic field recordings.
S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT is out February on Dead Oceans.
* In fact, there isn't really a standout “single”.
