Buy Now
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Mar 2, 2016The confident, relaxed, but still concise and appealing “Vertical” indicates that Animal Collective still have some life in them, and as much as some of Painting With can tend to grate, it’s still an improvement from the band’s last two albums; trying to write pop songs instead of dance records or noise jams suits them in their middle age.
-
Feb 23, 2016A record that has moments of brilliance but by virtue of trying to be a novelty record, actually comes closer to being a rehash of their previous work.
-
Feb 23, 2016For sure, Animal Collective still have plenty of whimsical creativity left in them, but on Painting With they mostly color inside the lines.
-
Feb 22, 2016All in all, Painting With feels just far too interpolated, and even familiar, to truly grasp, though through its failures it manages to somehow bring them one step closer to achieving those awe-inspiring moments of yore.
-
Feb 19, 2016Painting With lacks the consistency to be that work, but its moments of glory provide a welcome return to the melodic mastery of golden ages past.
-
Feb 17, 2016While working on the album, the band reportedly tried to blur the lines--primarily through scattershot vocals--to make it hard to discern who wrote what. In the process, they've lost the collaborative, intersectional sound that's always provided a sense of humanity heart at the centre of Animal Collective.
-
Feb 16, 2016Inevitably there are moments when you wished they’d rein it in a little and take a breather from the very many sonic tricks they’re painting with. And you often can’t help but lament the lack of human compassion: the affecting and crafted songwriting of Merriweather Post Pavillion is somewhat lost. But there are glimpses of that capacity on Burglars which has some lovely Beach Boys-esque backing vocals, and many of the tracks are far more intoxicating than their previous record ever offered.
-
Feb 16, 2016Painting With is unmistakably an Animal Collective album, but in its eager familiarity, it ultimately neglects the one all-important quality of any Animal Collective record: novelty.
-
Feb 16, 2016Some tracks, though, aren’t actually as immediate as you would want them to be.
-
Feb 11, 2016You’re left with an album on which smug self-indulgence is matched with genuine inventiveness. Painting With won’t change anyone’s mind about Animal Collective, or even help the undecided make theirs up.
-
Q MagazineFeb 5, 2016If the absence of slow-builds and ambient drones makes for more succinct tunes, they're still no snappier. Choruses won't be bellowed, the air won't be bellowed, the air won't be punched, devotees will likely be delighted. [Mar 2016, p.105]
-
MojoFeb 3, 2016For all their organic methods, these Animals often come across so robotic and constricted--witness natural Selection's echoes of woozy Chicago house classic Washing machine--stripping those painstaking vocal arrangements of their humanity. [Mar 2016, p.94]
-
Apr 28, 2016Full of punch, the album still never quite reaches its destination.
-
Feb 19, 2016There's a sort of admirable purity to this approach, and it suggests that if Animal Collective decide they'd like to make brilliant albums again then probably will, but this time they're probably better off painting alone.
-
The WireFeb 18, 2016For all of its constant activity, [the album] feels stale. It does next to nothing new to build on previous releases, and from song to song there's so little variation that its ultimate effect is numbing. [Feb 2016, p.50]
-
Feb 16, 2016Painting With is a record that just “is,” not very noteworthy, the band nowhere close to fulfilling its potential.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 79 out of 103
-
Mixed: 17 out of 103
-
Negative: 7 out of 103
-
Feb 19, 2016
-
Feb 19, 2016
-
Feb 19, 2016