Animal Collective - Fireworks Single Review

Animal Collective
Fireworks
Single Review

Released to coincide with Bonfire Night, I was looking forward to this single, having heard and read a fair bit about Animal Collective, pretty much all of it positive.

I have this theory that there should be some sort of repository for bits of songs. Need a hook? Check the repository. Need a bridge? The repository will have one. People could donate bits of songs they didn't need, couldn't use or couldn't come up with anything to go with, and for a small fee, the repository could store them and act as a kind of brokerage. And Animal Collective could pop in and get a chorus for 'Fireworks'. For because while I kind of like this single - the twitchy, flanged backing, the chattery, wordy vocal, the sparseness of the drums, the almost psychotic repetition of the keyboard part, the odd noises - it never really goes anywhere or does very much except get slightly bigger, and I keep looking for a focal point to latch onto. It's like being kept in a state of permanent suspense, and that's ultimately rather unrewarding. There's enough good ideas in here about how different sounds work together for me to have a go at some of their other stuff, but I can't see myself playing this one very much.

Jon Watson