1. My Girls by Animal Collective

By: Orlando da Silva

				"My Girls" by Animal Collective

When Merriweather Post Pavillion was released to immediate and near unanimous praise earlier this year, far and few between were the music publications who did not make some special mention of "My Girls". This is completely due to the fact that with "My Girls", Animal Collective have reached a near perfect balance of their signature deconstructed dance beats and Beach Boy harmonies. This is one of their most overtly dance-influenced tracks—arpeggiated synths whirling in a pool of reverb and a slowly unfolding big beat build a base for layer upon layer of hand claps and harmonizing voices. Those harmonies form the real structure of the song, and it is not difficult to imagine how "My Girls" could work completely a capella.

Panda Bear's lead vocal consists of a series of chants exclaiming the joy of domestic life, opening with the lines, "There isn't much that I feel I need/ A solid soul and the blood I bleed/ But with a little girl, and by my spouse/ I only want a proper house." It's not the most austere, high-minded poetry in the world, but that's just it—this song is built on a few minimalist elements that nonetheless build and layer and create something huge and alive that you can't help but move your head awkwardly to. This is Animal Collective in a nutshell.

That Animal Collective are as popular as they are is no slight thing—even their modest level of indie fame is kind of amazing given the sheer lack of compromise in their music. The vast majority of music listeners in this world don't have the slightest clue who Animal Collective are, and unlike last year's number one song ("Time To Pretend" by MGMT), "My Girls" was not omnipresent 2009—it barely registered a blip in the mainstream world—but to us it was the most essential six minutes of music released this year.


Video: "My Girls" by Animal Collective