Creature comforts

Brian Weitz ­– aka Animal Collective sonic contortionist Geologist – blames the French. Not the entire nation – just the presumptuous Paris music mag which thought it might be a lark to leak via podcast a chunk of Animal Collective’s new record, Merriweather Post Pavilion. What the fuck, wonders Weitz, were they thinking? “It wasn’t some kid who was posting to his blog,” he fumes. “These were journalists we gave copies of our record to. We had long arguments over the last song on the album. We decided it should be ‘Brother Sport’. And then it turns up on a podcast.”

It didn’t take long for the leak to spread across the internet. Within a few days, ‘Brother Sport’ even surfaced on a site maintained by the Brooklyn freak-folkies Grizzly Bear – prompting reams of blogosphere buzz about an Animal Collective v Grizzly Bear ‘feud’.
“It went up on a million other websites too,” says Weitz, in London for a day of promotional work. “But they’re a band with a profile, so naturally that’s what all the headlines are going to be about. For us, that side of things isn’t news. We don’t want to be part of a media storm. What angers us is that people in a position of trust should take it upon themselves to leak material in the first place.”
Indeed, when Animal Collective flew, rather reluctantly, to Paris to shill for Merriweather, Weitz refused straight-up to talk to anyone from the publication behind the leak, Les Inrocktuptibles. “You know, I have a life. We all have lives. And it’s a big deal for us to go to France and do promo. We’re sacrificing our quality of life. So I don’t see why I should entertain journalists who did that to us. When they came into the room, I walked right out and cancelled the interview. Why should they think they can put our music out there without our permission – and then expect us to play along?”
If Weitz is agitated, it’s because Merriweather – named after a beloved outdoor rock venue in the Maryland boondocks – is shaping up to be the release that elevates Animal Collective from blogger cause-celebre to break-out contenders – provided leakers don’t spoil the fun. Blending Brian Wilson-gone-crazy surrealism, Flaming Lips psychedelia and a dumpster worth of extremely hummable tunes, it’s a record with the potential to be this year’s Seldom Seen Kid: a coming-of-age missive from a much-respected band that finally lifts them up where they belong. So if this Baltimore by way of New York and Portugal (keyboardist Noah Lennox lives in Lisbon) crew have been a long time passion of yours, get ready to share them with the world outside your bedroom. Twelve months hence, they could be mainstream stars rather than critics’ crushes.
“We’ve always considered ourselves a psychedelic band,” says Weitz, of Merriweather’s insidious mix of sun-splashed pop melodies, eerie beats and fluttering undergrowth FX. “We don’t mean that in a backwards-looking sense. After all, psychedelic bands in the ‘60s weren’t looking to the past. They were looking all around them, drawing in middle eastern references, folk elements. It was a post rock ‘n roll sound. We see the aesthetic we are pursuing as very contemporary.”
Still, he must be aware of chatter about a ‘nu-psychedelic’ scene, led by recent HP cover stars MGMT but also including such lauded newcomers as Yeasayer and Black Moth Super Rainbow as well as relative veterans like Of Montreal. Weitz shrugs: “Things always come back into fashion. I’m not sure it’s that big a surprise. It’s definitely much more obvious over here in Europe – especially in France, for some reason.”
Mind-bending drugs, of course, have always been integral to psychedelia. Beneath their mild exteriors – most of the band have wives and children and, when not on the road, live lives of quiet normality – are Animal Collective secret hallucinogenic warriors? “Not really. When you make music while you’re on drugs, there’s a danger that you also need to be on drugs to appreciate it.” Surely, though, they have some chemical experiences on which to draw?
“Oh yeah, most of us have had our run-ins. We’ve had some pretty bad experiences. We consider those to be important influences on our music. It was something from our youth, though. None of us were ever truly into it in a big way as kids and now, not at all.”
Weitz is a pretty laid-back guy, but he shudders slightly when I ask if Animal Collective plan on playing Ireland as they go on the road in support of Merriweather. He doesn’t have anything against us. Quite the contrary, in fact – he says the band are extremely keen on performing here soon. It’s just that, the last two occasions they were booked for Dublin things went awry. So awry, in fact, a superstitious soul might wonder if forces beyond our comprehension weren’t conspiring against them.
“The first time, someone kicked in the windscreen of our tour bus in Manchester. We had to drive to the ferry to Dublin with the wind blowing in our faces all the way. Two of us came down with really bad viruses. As a result, we had to play a truncated show. Then, the last time, we got there too late to make curfew. So we arranged to play a midnight show – and then our van broke down outside of Dublin. It eventually came together and we got to do the show. But we felt bad for all the people who had bought tickets for the original concert and couldn’t make it. So we’re going to try to put on a free show in Dublin. Nothing is set in stone yet. We’re still brainstorming over it. It would be a great way of saying thank you to our Irish fans for bearing with us.”

Merriweather Post Pavilion is released January 16. The band play Tripod, Dublin on March 27 (not free!).