Despite it being a bit cleaner and more well-rounded, the Animal Collective co-founder's personality still remains to be a huge factor of why 7s is one of Avey Tare's best solo projects to date. What makes 7s stand out are the brighter and more upbeat tones, dreamier instrumentals, and more focused cohesion in his songwriting and craft.
Animal Collective co-founder, singer, songwriter and all-around lovable yelper David Portner, aka Avey Tare, has been providing his eclectic and hypnotic music for decades at this point. He's taken a huge part in Baltimore-based psych band Animal Collective for over two decades by providing his soft eerie croon, ferociously animalistic yelps, acoustic instrumentation, nature-influenced songwriting, and ambient looping electronics. Like other Animal Collective member Panda Bear, Avey Tare has also made several solo and side project releases under his own name over the years. Although I've enjoyed much of Panda Bear's solo work (from Person Pitch to some spots from his new collaborative project with Sonic Boom released just last year), I haven't exactly been as huge of a fan of Avey Tare's solo material compared to Panda Bear's. I don't know if it's Tare's greater emphasis on experimentation and noise or his tendency to be messier and rougher rather than have more of a pop appeal but I just haven't been too enamored with his solo albums, especially the earlier ones like Down There (which just sounds like purely uncomfortable noise to me). That's certainly not the case with his entire discography though. I loved his Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks side project back in 2014 and I still think it's his personal best and most underrated solo/side project to this day. I've also enjoyed singles from his previous solo albums like "Saturdays (Again)."
To be fair, I haven't exactly given his past few solo releases a full listen, including 2017's Eucalyptus and 2019's Cows on Hourglass Pond or even his couple of more recent EP's, both from 2019. To make up for this, I gave his new solo record a shot. Titled 7s, I didn't know too much before going into this record. Predicting that I'd for sure get some of Avey Tare's signature moaning and crooning over some repetitious looping ambient electronics and echoing acoustic instrumentation, I definitely got a good chunk of this on 7s. What makes 7s stand out much more than the majority of his previous solo albums is his attention to brighter and more upbeat tones, dreamier instrumentals, and more focused cohesion in his songwriting and craft. There's always been a childlike playfulness and wonder in Avey's music and I hear a greater sense of it on 7s. There's also catchier, stickier and more melodic elements to his music than ever before. There are numerous parts on 7s where I feel like I'm getting a bit of the atmospheric color that I've gotten before on past Animal Collective records like Strawberry Jam or Merriweather Post Pavilion.
Sonically on 7s, it seems like Avery Tare is in a much happier and bubblier headspace this time around. I think the album's cover accurately depicts what you're going to hear and that's bright pastels of color and abstracted shapes of ambient washes. "The Musical" is certainly the album's most inviting and enjoyable single with a heavy emphasis on Brazilian jazz grooves and percussion along with a memorable gliding hook. It's arguably the most peppy track I've heard from Avey in a while. Other really catchy and sticky moments include the fluttering piano notes on "Invisible Darlings" and the gorgeous plucking beat and acoustic "Lips at Night." Even though these moments may in fact be college radio friendly, I wouldn't say the rest is exactly as accessible to the typical pop radio listener. We've got songs on here that reach towards eight to nine minutes in total length with sweeping ambient electronic pieces that although they aren't exactly for all newcomers, they're gracious and lovable for the longtime Animal Collective fan. "Hey Bog" and "Sweeper's Grin" are the two massive ambient pieces that follow each other back to back in the track listing. Once "Hey Bog" does eventually pick up, it's quite chirpy and infectious with its grooves and pacing. "Sweeper's Grin" is the more enveloping ambient piece with acoustic repetition playing a big part in its pretty instrumentation. If you don't like repetition, then you probably won't like music from either Avey Tare or Animal Collective.
The glitchy electronics and sharp percussion on "Neurons" may be a bit off-putting at first listen but it's still an enjoyable deep cut. The six-minute "Cloud Stop Rest Start"closes the album in a moodier, more somber fashion with its slow building synths that start to tower over the listener as the track glides along. It's one of the slower burns in the track listing but you'll still find some beauty from this track if you give it a chance. The same truly goes for this entire album really. 7s has its warm and inviting moments that instantly grab the listener, especially on its singles but it also has slow burning moments that are quite rewarding if you give them a full proper listen, especially on the longer cuts. To be honest, this is the most enjoyable solo Avey Tare project I've heard in nearly a decade despite not listening to some of his past work in full. There's less of the messiness and roughness that I typically don't like in an Avery Tare project. It's still there of course but the quirks aren't too obnoxious or distracting to a point where it halts the music from being too annoying to be enjoyable. Also the new music itself is better, more cohesive, tighter, and there's more of an accessibility to his new album that I find to be way more enjoyable and palpable than most of his past solo work. Despite it being a bit cleaner and more well-rounded, his personality still remains to be a huge factor of why 7s is one of Avey Tare's best solo projects to date. Even before writing this review, I told myself I can't give the album a 7/10 rating because that would be too on-the-nose for a record called 7s but here we are... lol.
My Rating: 7 / 10
Favorite Songs: "The Musical," "Lips at Night," "Invisible Darlings," "Sweeper's Grin"
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