Animal Collective Continues to Push Boundaries With 'Isn't it Now?'

Written by Jackson Resnick, Photography by Hisham Akira Bharoocha

The “Magicians from Baltimore'' are back with a new record Isn’t It Now? on September 29, via Domino Records. Isn’t It Now? has already made its rounds on the road, as the band has been performing this batch of songs around the country for a few years. Low-quality rips of pretty much every song off the project have circulated around the internet for a while now thanks to the band broadcasting a rehearsal session via Blast Radio back in 2021. The band said they were saving a batch of songs from that session for the album after their 2022 release Time Skiffs which garnered a lot of praise from fans and critics. Their reason for holding back on recording certain songs is unclear, but it may be related to the addition of studio wizard Russel Elevado (D’Angelo, The Roots, Erykah Badu) to produce and engineer the new record. 

Elevado’s role on this album is very exciting for a number of reasons. Elevado is perhaps best known for recording and mixing D’Angelo’s revolutionary album Voodoo back in 2000. He also was a major part of recording and mixing records like Mama’s Gun by Erykah Badu and Phrenology by The Roots, records that would eventually define a new era of Hip-Hop/R&B. In a sense, he made Hip-Hop sound “expensive,” bringing live instrumentation into the mix and recording those instruments at the highest fidelity possible. His knack for capturing live performances has made him one of the most in-demand engineers of the 21st century, resulting in him working in a wide variety of genres. However, Animal Collective might just be his biggest challenge yet. Their experimental “playground” approach to making music is far from the traditional processes of record making, but surely Elevado’s pristine studio techniques and experience will only enhance the abstract qualities that have come to define Animal Collective. 

Judging based-off a trio of singles teasing the group’s new direction, there certainly won’t be any lack of magic. Isn’t It Now? seems to be a continuation rather than a departure from the sonic world of their 2022 release Time Skiffs. And that’s not to say that this is simply a B-sides project either. The first taste of the new record came in the form of “Defeat,” a 22-minute trip of a song that would typically be the opposite of what a label would consider to be a commercially effective move. But for a group of odd-balls like Animal Collective, this should be no surprise. Hat’s off to Domino Records for letting it fly with this one. 

For a band that has done nothing but push the boundaries of music for the past 20 years or so, it’s fascinating to see them operating with that same ambition that got the group to where they are today. “Defeat” is a beautiful display of long-form, meditative psychedelia. A harmonium drones in the background with cycling deceptive cadences leaving you waiting for a resolution that never quite comes. It’s in the same vein as The Beatles’ “Within You Without You,” only it takes up the entirety of the album’s side C. Vocalist Avery Tare seems to be playing a shamonic role on the microphone, almost as if he’s leading a monastery through a spiritual journey. It isn’t until about the half-way point when the drums kick in and the electric refrain of “crawling from the serpent in the water, the mirror, the what-have-we-become?” shakes you awake, marking the track’s ‘bridge.’ From there, the song descends back into a psychedelic haze that ends with a repetitive cry of the album’s title, “Isn’t It Now?” 

The captivating “Defeat” is brilliant on its own, but makes even more sense in the context of the next singles “Soul Capturer” and “Gem & I,” which explore a similar feeling of getting sucked into some sort of dream-like state. The so-called soul capturer “pulls you from the rapture” and “feeds off your dreaming,” and leaves you thinking “too much about the crying,” perhaps commenting on the endless cycle of tragedies we see on the news every day. The ominous themes in the lyrics are complemented by an ironically up-beat instrumental, rounded out by a minute-long fade out that literally feels like you’re getting sucked into another dimension. It’s a by-the-book AnCo song for sure, with that signature one-bar-loop drum pattern they’ve been playing with since the early 2000s (i.e “The Purple Bottle”) making an appearance.   

On “Gem & I,” the band seems to be grappling with desensitization, whether it be from fame or the news cycle, or even just emotions themselves. The lounge-y instrumental gives the song an air of luxury that’s juxtaposed with the “crack open another beer” refrain. It’s as playful as we’d expect from the band. The distorted keys and jazzy drum groove certainly have a similar vibe to tracks like “Car Keys” and “Dragon Slayer” off of last year’s Time Skiffs, but Elevado’s presence can certainly be felt in the recordings. 

Whatever reason the band may or may not have had for holding on to these songs, it surely was worth it to wait until Elevado could add his special sauce to the recipe. Animal Collective is always looking to stay ahead of the curve in the world of experimental and indie music. With what we’ve heard so far, Isn’t It Now? is going to be yet another memorable moment in the band’s 20+ year run.