Merriweather Post Pavilion (album)

Merriweather Post Pavilion
Studio album by
Animal Collective
ReleasedJanuary 6, 2009
RecordedFebruary–July 2008
StudioSweet Tea (Oxford, Mississippi)
Genre
Length54:45
LabelDomino
Producer
Animal Collective chronology
Water Curses
(2008) 		Merriweather Post Pavilion
(2009) 		Animal Crack Box
(2009)
Singles from Merriweather Post Pavilion
  1. "My Girls"
    Released: March 23, 2009
  2. "Summertime Clothes"
    Released: June 29, 2009
  3. "Brother Sport"
    Released: November 9, 2009

Merriweather Post Pavilion is the eighth studio album by American experimental pop group Animal Collective, released on January 6, 2009, through Domino Records. The group recorded the album as a trio featuring members Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Avey Tare (Dave Portner) and Geologist (Brian Weitz), with co-production by Ben H. Allen. It is titled after the Maryland venue of the same name, where Portner and Weitz attended concerts in their youth.

Merriweather Post Pavilion saw the band continue to explore the electronica-based sound of their previous album Strawberry Jam, but favours a lusher, multi-layered production style compared to its predecessor. Drawing sonically from Panda Bear's 2007 solo album Person Pitch, and working largely without guitars, the band made extensive use of samplers and synthesizers as primary instruments, as well as prominent reverb. The band also installed PA systems in the studio in an attempt to replicate the energy of their live shows.

The album peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on the US Top Independent Albums charts. According to review aggregate site Metacritic, Merriweather was the most critically acclaimed album of 2009,[7] and went on to sell over 200,000 copies by 2012.[8] It spawned the singles "My Girls" (named the Best Song of 2009 by Pitchfork and Slant Magazine), "Summertime Clothes", and "Brother Sport". The album's reverb-heavy psychedelic pop sound would exert a wide influence on music of the subsequent decade.[9]

  1. ^
    • Mackay, Emily (January 9, 2009). "Merriweather Post Pavillion review". NME. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
    • Kloczko, Justin (January 4, 2019). "Heavy Reverb: The Still-Resonant Psych-Pop Influence of 'Merriweather Post Pavilion'". The Ringer.
  2. ^
  3. ^ "The Quietus | News | LISTEN: New Animal Collective 7". The Quietus.
  4. ^ Walker, Tim. "Panda Bear, Heaven, London". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  5. ^ Fitzmaurice, Larry. "Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion Was Radical Enough to Redefine Indie Music. Why Didn't It?". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  6. ^ King, Allison. "Finding order in the surreal - Animal Collective, gig review". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  7. ^ Jason Deitz. The Best Albums of 2009 Metacritic. December 29, 2009. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
  8. ^ http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/475302/can-animal-collectives-centipede-hz-make-them-mainstream-stars Nielsen SoundScan
  9. ^ Kloczko, Justin (January 4, 2019). "Heavy Reverb: The Still-Resonant Psych-Pop Influence of 'Merriweather Post Pavilion'". The Ringer.