“Am I really all the things that are outside of me?” is the first and last line of the song ‘Taste’ by Animal Collective. From my recollection, it was the only thing about the track I could remember after listening to Merriweather Post Pavilion for the first time in 2012 and being bewildered by the whole experience. I’ve written before about how I really had no context regarding Animal Collective before heading straight into hearing Merriweather…, how their live setup confused me, how it eventually became a favourite of mine etc. etc. It’s a story I won’t have to repeat again because ‘Taste’ marks the last time a song from the album will appear on here. But you get the idea, I once heard an album, didn’t get it, heard it again a couple more times, I began to understand it. And then I went into a whole Animal Collective phase that doesn’t need to be dug into here. What’s more important is the song at hand. So after Panda Bear opens the second half of Merriweather… with something of an ode to masturbation with ‘Guys Eyes’, Avey Tare takes things back to the more existential self-analysing route rather than a sexual one with ‘Taste’ straight after. The former merges into the latter with a sampled wind(?) of some kind before giving way to the looping, hypnotizing rhythm that anchors ‘Taste’ right up till its end.

I look at Genius, and it looks like ‘Taste’ goes way deeper than I thought it ever did. I kind of got the idea that it was about the topic of image. Being concerned by how the way we act, dress, look is perceived by other people. But then there are metaphors involving clothes in the song that adds a whole other level. What I’ve really appreciated about the song, though, is how, essentially from the first chorus onward, Panda Bear joins Tare on the vocals and sings an entirely different melody over the top. Not in a backup, harmonizing kind of way either, they really act as co-lead vocals. But, you know, you’ll see Tare’s lyrics everywhere because he is the “main” singer for this one. It’s just so fascinating how both vocalists diverge with their vocals, which then come together for the repeats of the final line as the song comes to its end. I always get lost in that moreso than the message. Not that that isn’t important. It’s kind of along the lines of, “Image is something we all think about. It’s just nature. But don’t go changing yourself to please other people.” And that’s pretty solid advice.

So, yeah, not the end of Animal Collective on here, but it’s the end for Merriweather Post Pavilion. It had its time. On some days, it’s my favourite by the group, but the majority of the time that title goes to Strawberry Jam. That is some good listening right there. Only four songs from MPP I managed to write about on here, and had the axes aligned and I’d gotten my act together, at least a couple posts for ‘Also Frightened’ and ‘Brother Sport’ would be found on this place too. Just use your imagination as to how those ones would go. I’m looking at this post for ‘Taste’ now and I’m thinking maybe I could have written a little more about it. I do think it’s a great song, but it came along as more a part of the package that MPP is rather than one I had a grand experience with that I needed to share, which you might in some other posts around the place. But I do appreciate it a lot, and really the song should do all the talking rather than these paragraphs underneath. When the group started playing ‘Taste’ live in 2007, it originally sounded very different. And you’ll find some people saying they prefer this earlier version. I’ll leave it to you.