The first few times I’d be playing through Animal Collective’s Centipede Hz when I was getting into the group all those years ago, I’ve gotta say its third song ‘Rosie Oh’ passed me by without much of a second thought on my part. It gets a bit of a raw deal with is position in the tracklisting. The album’s hyped up with its charging first track, which in turn is followed by the unpredictably hyper second (also the first single). You wonder how this hectic momentum built by these two numbers will be carried on. Then ‘Rosie Oh’ comes into the frame, and it sounds like a stroll in the park compared to them – albeit containing the same loaded production choices that have been established in the opening tracks. But somewhere along the way, I came to appreciate it a lot more. And now I can write three paragraphs about it with that appreciation.

After playing a huge part in the direction of the sample-heavy, neo-psychedelia of Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox aka Panda Bear took more of a backseat for Centipede. Quite literally too, as he resumed drumming duties as the four members decided to make their music as more of a typical rock band unit again. Lennox provides two tracks on the album that he takes the lead vocal. One of them I’ve discussed already. ‘Rosie Oh’ isn’t quite as large and swooping as ‘New Town Burnout’, but it certainly surprises you in terms of its structure. There’s a bridge, which you’d think would return back to the melody of the beginning verses, but it goes into another section that in turn goes into a somewhat sudden and unexpected ending after a simmering instrumental break.

The track seems to be an account of someone who has no place to go after being forced out of wherever they once used to live, carrying nothing but a backpack on their person. They’re offered a ride by a stranger and a place to stay by another, but the narrator refuses these and opts to go on their merry way. Maybe the ‘stroll in the park’ feeling of the music is something that’s very much intentional. It’s literally what’s described in the words. Still, being on their own raises the question of whether their lone experiences are essentially worth it without at least having someone their to accompany them. Someone who can be invested in their feelings and bring some relief when things get too heavy. The narrator has an existential crisis at the song’s end: Did they forge this path in life, or did they just let it happen to them? It’s left unresolved, and the album continues onto the next track. But ‘Rosie…’ is definitely an interesting one. More interesting than I think people give it credit. Thumbs up from me.