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Mar 9, 2012While there are plenty of fantastic moments to be found and the album is certainly recommendable, its sluggishly repetitive second half reminds the listener too often of exactly what the strengths and weaknesses of this band are.
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Mar 5, 2012For its new fond feeling and its quick animal stride, t offers something that we can all be swept up in, and all from the moment "Animal Life" gets close.
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Mar 5, 2012Instead of a coherent collection of songs, Animal Joy feels like a series of very clever blueprints that, while admirable in form, are often (despite that title), rather bloodless.
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Mar 1, 2012The result is not a great leap forward but a stationary jump--with one foot forward, another backward, and a hard landing on both feet.
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Mar 1, 2012Although it lacks the conceptual cohesion and embroidered orchestration of their last three albums and has a few weak tracks, Animal Joy adds sentiment to intellect, an undefined rebellion to Shearwater's heady songwriting and thereby challenges that duality.
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MojoFeb 27, 2012Animal Joy surfs similar channels to their last release, The Golden Archipelago, evoking stratospheric textures anchored down by melodically well-honed tunes. [Mar 2012, p.102]
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Feb 27, 2012Though harder, happier and a little more direct, Animal Joy is above all a Shearwater record: swooping, eloquent, concerned with nature.
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Feb 27, 2012A contender for their boldest LP yet.
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Feb 24, 2012This album creates that space, where both that source of fear and joy are simultaneous, inevitable, and sublime.
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Feb 24, 2012It's aggressive, impressive, but never makes an emotional connection.
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Q MagazineFeb 22, 2012Touring with Coldplay have clearly done little to dim the scale of Meiburg's ambitions. [Mar 2012, p.112]
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Feb 22, 2012As You As You Were already feels like a festival anthem in waiting. Stunningly good music.
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Feb 21, 2012It's unburdened by obligatory connections to what's come before and as a result, has a renewed amount of energy.
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Feb 21, 2012The trio tosses musical Hail Mary's and nails it almost every time, producing a record that's life-affirming in its grandiosity.
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Feb 16, 2012Animal Joy has a focus and progression.
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Feb 16, 2012Animal Joy proves they are still a naturalistically minded band, but in dropping the more arcane conceptual gambits of their self-described "trilogy" ... and speaking in layman's terms both emotionally and sonically, they're taking their best shot at meeting new listeners halfway.
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Feb 15, 2012It's not as unified as previous records, but with fewer meanders towards the mainstream and more of the electronic adventures of last year's freebie 'Shearwater Is Enron', Animal Joy may herald a bold new incarnation.
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Feb 14, 2012This album is just a few hairs (a couple of tracks and/or segues) short of being a transcendent gem, or masterpiece.
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Feb 14, 2012Animal Joy, in its hunt for instinctual performance, comes close to the classic album Shearwater surely has in it.
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Feb 14, 2012Animal Joy provides not only a well-developed and unique aesthetic, but it offers a way in for a number of listening styles, a fact that should keep the album rewarding.
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Feb 14, 2012Animal Joy falters where it mistakes crude simplicity for reinvention.
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Feb 14, 2012Animal Joy represents a remarkable band in their prime of their career and is a stunning success on every level.
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Feb 14, 2012Dense, powerful, wild, yet immaculately rendered, Animal Joy blends the expansive, cinematic scope of contemporaries like Other Lives and the National with the arty drama of "San Jacinto"-era Peter Gabriel.
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Feb 13, 2012Meiburg and the group have swapped the muddy tranquillity that kept them muted and unheard for a daring dose of starry eyed wonderment that really should unleash the groups collective wings, enabling them to fly higher than ever before.
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Feb 10, 2012For all of the exploring, Shearwater is at their most affecting when they stay at home.
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Feb 10, 2012A peculiar unwillingness to climax is something that many Shearwater records have suffered with over the years, and Animal Joy is unfortunately no exception.
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Feb 9, 2012Control and ambition can go together, and Meiburg proves that, in the right hands, the combination can yield some exciting results.
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UncutFeb 3, 2012Meiburg's troubled tenor is abetted by sinewy arrangements full of the disquiet of that decade. [Mar 2012, p.95]
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Under The RadarFeb 3, 2012We're listening to a band shedding their heavy coat after a long winter and braving forward into a brighter spring. [#39, p.69]
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Feb 3, 2012While it may lack the dense orchestrations and insular connotations of previous efforts, Animal Joy packs a powerful punch all of its own, typified by an artfully sequenced set of songs that capture the human condition with panache.
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Feb 3, 2012Taken as a whole, Animal Joy maintains the quality of Shearwater's earlier outings without quite taking things to the next level they're eminently capable of achieving.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 15
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Mixed: 3 out of 15
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Negative: 1 out of 15
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Feb 18, 2012
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Apr 26, 2012
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Feb 26, 2012