REVIEWSAvey Tare, ‘Down There’

7

• SPIN Rating:7 of 10

• • Listen:

    Spotify

Release Date: October 25, 2010
Label: Paw Tracks

As puckish foil to the choirboy charms of bandmate Panda Bear, Animal Collective's Dave "Avey Tare" Portner pushes the prickly and eerie side of the band's avant-pop. And while anticipation for Panda's Tomboy remains high, Tare sneaks in with his first solo album. The squishy sonics from AC's Merriweather Post Pavillion linger (the echoing "Glass Bottom Boat" and sparse "Cemeteries"), but get fortified by dubstep stutters. Seismic bass underpins "Ghost of Books" and for the loping seven-minute opener "Laughing Hieroglyphic," there's even a touch of old soul balladry.